BepiColombo prepares for its first Mercury flyby on Friday

BepiColombo prepares for its first Mercury flyby on Friday
BepiColombo prepares for its first Mercury flyby on Friday

British-built spacecraft, BepiColombo, will make its first flyby of Mercury on Friday, when it will come just 124 miles of the smallest planet in the Solar System.  

The probe will make its first flyby of Mercury at 00:34 BST on October 1, capturing images and science data during the approach of the closest world to the sun.

The uncrewed European Space Agency spacecraft will make use of nine planetary flybys in total: one at Earth, two at Venus, and six at Mercury, together with the spacecraft's solar electric propulsion system, to help steer into Mercury orbit.

This flyby is hot on the heels of its last Venus flyby in August, giving scientists a tantalising first taste of what's to come in the main mission in four years. 

The first images from the flyby won't be available until early on Saturday, October 2, with most pictures from the mission published early on Monday morning. 

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British-built spacecraft, BepiColombo, will make its first flyby of Mercury on Friday, when it will come just 124 miles of the smallest planet in the Solar System

British-built spacecraft, BepiColombo, will make its first flyby of Mercury on Friday, when it will come just 124 miles of the smallest planet in the Solar System

The probe will make its first flyby of Mercury at 00:34 BST on October 1, capturing images and science data during the approach of the closest world to the sun

The probe will make its first flyby of Mercury at 00:34 BST on October 1, capturing images and science data during the approach of the closest world to the sun

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT MERCURY?

For all its bland 'dead' appearance, Mercury is a very interesting place

It is the smallest planet in our solar system - only slightly larger than the Earth's moon.

On its sunward half, the planet sizzles at a temperature of 510°C (950°CF while its night side maintains –210°C (–346°F).

It is the closest planet to the sun at a distance of about 36 million miles (58 million km) or 0.39 AU.

Mercury has  a solid iron core that measures more than half the planet's diameter. Earth, by contrast, has a solid core that's just 9.5 per cent of its overall girth.

One day on Mercury takes 59 Earth days. Mercury makes a complete orbit around the sun (a year in Mercury time) in just 88 Earth days.

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BepiColombo launched in October 2018 and is made up of two science orbiters, one from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the other from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that will fly in complementary orbits around the planet. 

It includes the ESA-led Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the JAXA-led Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, which will study all aspects of the planet - from its core to surface processes, magnetic field and its exosphere.

The aim is to better understand the origin, processes currently at work, and evolution of the planet closest to our parent star. 

Travelling the 67 million miles to enter orbit around Mercury is no small task, requiring multiple flybys to speed up, or slow down, for orbital insertion. 

Gravitational flybys require extremely precise deep-space navigation work, ensuring that the spacecraft is on the correct approach trajectory.

One week after BepiColombo's last flyby on August 10, a correction manoeuvre was performed to nudge the craft a little for this first flyby of Mercury.

The experts hope to pass very close to the distant world, just 124 miles from its surface and it is currently looking like it will pass 123 miles from the surface.

As BepiColombo is more than 60 million miles away from Earth, with light taking 350 seconds to reach it, being on target to within just a mile is no easy feat.

'It is because of our remarkable ground stations that we know where our spacecraft is with such precision,' said Elsa Montagnon, operations manager from ESA. 

'With this information, the Flight Dynamics team at ESOC know just how much we need to manoeuvre, to be in the right place for Mercury's gravitational assist.

'As is often the case, our mission's path has been planned so meticulously that no further correction manoeuvres are expected for this upcoming flyby. BepiColombo is on track.'

There won't be high-resolution images from the flyby, as the main science camera is shielded by the transfer module used to protect it in deep space. 

BepiColombo launched in October 2018 and is made up of two science orbiters, one from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the other from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that will fly in complementary orbits around the planet

BepiColombo launched in October 2018 and is made up of two science orbiters, one from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the other from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that will fly in complementary orbits around the planet

It includes the ESA-led Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the JAXA-led Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, which will study all aspects of the planet - from its core to surface processes, magnetic field and its exosphere

It includes the ESA-led Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the JAXA-led Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, which will study all aspects of the planet - from its core to surface processes, magnetic field and its exosphere

WHO WAS GIUSEPPE 'BEPI' COLOMBO? 

The upcoming first Mercury flyby falls on the 101st anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe 'Bepi' Colombo 

He lived from October 2, 1920 until his death on February 20, 1984.

Colombo was an Italian scientist and engineer for whom the

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