Today , BepiColombois lay out to gather Mercury for the first time as it stockpile out the first of what will be six flybys on its charge to start studying the smallest planet in 2025 . At 11:34 pm UTC ( 6:34 pm ET ) on October 1 , the mission will fly just 200 kilometer ( 124 miles ) from the surface of the innermost Solar System world , shoot its first persona and science data of Mercury .
BepiColombo , a quislingism between the European Space Agency ( ESA ) and the Japanese Space Agency ( JAXA ) , comprises two orbiters that will separate into complementary orbits . The delegacy will translate Mercury like never before — and that start tonight .
“ We ’re really looking forrad to seeing the first results from measuring carry so near to Mercury ’s surface , ” Johannes Benkhoff , ESA ’s BepiColombo project scientist , say in astatement . “ When I set out put to work as project scientist on BepiColombo in January 2008 , NASA ’s Messenger mission had its first flyby at Mercury . Now it ’s our turn . It ’s a tremendous feeling ! ”
The recentflyby of Venus , used to slingshot the ballistic capsule towards the inner Solar System , actually allowed missionary post ascendancy to correct the flight a little scrap and they carry the factual height of the spacecraft over Mercury to be 198 kilometers ( 123 miles ) . Being able-bodied to have an dubiety of just 2 kilometers ( just over 1 air mile ) from 100 million klick away , is unfeignedly a testament to how incredible the mission team is .
It will be a very brief visit , however . BepiColombo is moving too tight to go into orbit , but will rather swing past the planet , with the next five scheduled passes fructify to use the major planet ’s gravity to slow down it down enough to finally get into orbit by December 2025 .
The next flyby of Mercury will take plaza next June , then one a twelvemonth later in 2023 , two in 2024 , then one in 2025 before the orbital insertion in December of that year . When Bepi finally gets there , it will have take three years , two months , and multipleassisted soberness flybys . It ’s not well-off to get into the inner Solar System .
This appears counter - intuitive . The Sun is the big objective around so it would seem if you dropped something in the Solar System , it would simply shine inwards . And that is true , as long as that object is not already move around the Sun . When we shoot a rocket into quad , that rocket also has the speed of the Earth going around our lead . That speed makes sure that the Earth does n’t roll in , but if you desire to send your rocket nigher to the Sun you ’ve got to slow down the Eruca vesicaria sativa a lot . In this case , enough to match the speed of Mercury .
Doing that with chemical actuation is very expensive . However , using planets ' gravitative pull as a celestial bracken slows down and bow a craft ’s flight towards the inner portions of the Solar System . This maneuver was first devised by Italian mathematician and direct Giuseppe “ Bepi ” Colombo and was first engage by NASA to send theMariner 10probe to Mercury in the seventies .
