On October 1, 2021, BepiColombo — a joint endeavor between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) — flew past the planet Mercury for a gravity assist manoeuvre.
The Mercury Transfer Module’s Monitoring Camera 2 captured this image at 23:44:12 UTC, when the spacecraft was about 2,418 km from Mercury. Image credit: ESA / BepiColombo / MTM / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.
BepiColombo blasted off from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on October 20, 2018.
The mission is named after Professor Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo from the University of Padua, Italy, a mathematician and engineer of astonishing imagination.
It is the first European mission to Mercury and is the first to send two spacecraft to make complementary measurements of the planet and its dynamic environment at the same time.
BepiColombo consists of two individual orbiters: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO, or ‘Mio’).
From complementary orbits, they will study all aspects of mysterious Mercury from the planet’s core to surface processes, magnetic field and exosphere, to better understand the origin and evolution of a planet close to its parent star.
The October 1, 2021 gravity assist manoeuvre was the first at Mercury and the fourth of nine flybys overall.
During its seven-year cruise to the smallest and innermost planet of the Solar System, BepiColombo makes one flyby at Earth, two at Venus and six at Mercury to help steer on course for Mercury orbit in 2025.
Key moments during BepiColombo’s first Mercury flyby on October 1, 2021. Image credit: ESA.
As it flew past the planet for a gravity assist manoeuvre on October 1, the spacecraft captured several images of Mercury.
The images were taken at 23:44 UTC by the Mercury Transfer Module’s monitoring cameras, when the spacecraft was over 2,400 km (1,500 miles) from Mercury.
The closest approach of about 199 km (124 miles) took place shortly before, at 23:34 UTC.
“The region shown is part of Mercury’s northern hemisphere including Sihtu Planitia that has been flooded by lavas,” said members of the BepiColombo team.
“A round area smoother and brighter than its surroundings characterizes the plains around the Calvino crater, which are called the Rudaki Plains.”
“The 166 km- (103-mile) wide Lermontov crater is also seen, which looks bright because it contains features unique to Mercury called ‘hollows’ where volatile elements are escaping to space.”
“It also contains a vent where volcanic explosions have occurred. BepiColombo will study these types of features once in orbit around the planet.”
