European Space Agency, ESA 8d ago

After almost 8 years since its launch in 2018, BepiColombo is entering its most critical phase yet. As it gears up for its arrival to Mercury, our flight dynamics specialists, spacecraft controllers, engineers and mission experts at our European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) have designed a detailed simulations campaign to stay ahead of the game. BepiColombo will be the first mission to study Mercury with two spacecraft at the same time. MPO will orbit close to the planet’s surface, and Mio in a larger elliptical orbit. The data will give us a precise map of Mercury’s surface, and tell us what it’s made of, how it formed, how it changes over time, and what temperature it is. Flying over Mercury’s poles, MPO will also be able to peer into craters filled with permanent shadow – if there is water on Mercury, this is where it would be! 📹 European Space Agency (ESA) #ESA #Space #Mercury