1:45 PM - 2:00 PM
[PPS05-01] BepiColombo en route to Mercury: Mission Overview and First Results
★Invited Papers
Keywords:Mercury, Space Mission, Space Environment, Solar Wind Interactions
BepiColombo, a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for comprehensive exploration of planet Mercury, has been launched on 20 October 2018 from the European spaceport Kourou in French Guyana. Following its launch, BepiColombo has already performed three flybys at Mercury. The next three flybys at Mercury are time wise very close together and take place within four months starting in September 2024. About 10 months after these flybys the orbit insertion preparation will start. BepiColombo consists of two orbiters, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio). In late 2025/early 2026 these orbiters will be put in orbit around the innermost planet of our Solar System. BepiColombo with its state of the art and very comprehensive payload will perform measurements to increase our knowledge on the fundamental questions about Mercury’s evolution, composition, interior, magnetosphere, and exosphere.
Although the two BepiColombo spacecraft are in a stacked configuration during the cruise and only some of the instruments can perform scientific observations, the mission produces already some very valuable results. As an example, Mercury’s southern inner magnetosphere, a so far unexplored region, has been observed by the BepiColombo ion and fields instruments during the pass. Data taken during the Mercury's flybys revealed a magnetosphere populated by diverse populations and confirmed a really dynamic regime.
During the talk a status of the mission and results from science operations during cruise will be presented. A look ahead to the upcoming flybys and the planned science operations at Mercury will be given.
Although the two BepiColombo spacecraft are in a stacked configuration during the cruise and only some of the instruments can perform scientific observations, the mission produces already some very valuable results. As an example, Mercury’s southern inner magnetosphere, a so far unexplored region, has been observed by the BepiColombo ion and fields instruments during the pass. Data taken during the Mercury's flybys revealed a magnetosphere populated by diverse populations and confirmed a really dynamic regime.
During the talk a status of the mission and results from science operations during cruise will be presented. A look ahead to the upcoming flybys and the planned science operations at Mercury will be given.