Europe-Japan space mission captures rare image of Mercury
Two linked spacecraft built by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), together known as BepiColombo, snapped their first close-up pictures of Mercury. The $750 million mission plans to help BepiColombo enter into orbit around the planet closest to the Sun by 2025. The probe recently beamed the pictures of Mercury back home. Here are more details.
BepiColombo mission will study Mercury using its 16 onboard instruments
For the unversed, the BepiColombo mission consists of two orbiters that have commenced studying Mercury in unprecedented detail using 16 onboard instruments. The ESA contributed the Mercury Planetary Orbiter while the JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter will study the planet's magnetic field, plasma environment, and dust. Launched in 2018, the orbiters are on a seven-year journey, hitched to the Mercury Transfer Module.
Historic first picture snapped using black-and-white navigation camera
BepiColombo took its first picture of Mercury at 2344 GMT on October 1 using the Mercury Transfer Module Monitoring Camera 2. The black-and-white navigation camera snapped the historic picture at a distance of 2,418 kilometers from the planet on Friday. According to the ESA, the BepiColombo spacecraft flew within 200 kilometers of Mercury just 10 minutes before this, at 2334 GMT.
Mercury's northern hemisphere is visible in the picture: ESA officials
The BepiColombo's photo revealed several intricate details and carters in Mercury's surface that the ESA was kind enough to annotate. "The region shown is part of Mercury's northern hemisphere including Sihtu Planitia that has been flooded by lavas. A round area smoother and brighter than its surroundings characterizes the plains around the Calvino crater, which are called the Rudaki Plains," ESA officials remarked.
Due to mysterious core composition, Mercury also has magnetic field
Mercury is the only rocky planet orbiting the Sun besides Earth that has its own magnetic field. This is attributed to unique features of its core's composition that remain unknown to date. Mercury could also have witnessed volcanic activity billions of years ago.
Several more flybys to come before BepiColombo settles into orbit
Elsa Montagnon, Spacecraft Operations Manager for the mission, said, "The flyby was flawless from the spacecraft point of view, and it's incredible to finally see our target planet." Subsequent flybys are scheduled for June 20, 2022, June 2023, September 2024, December 2024, and January 2025 before BepiColombo slows down enough and enters orbit around Mercury on December 5, 2025.
