The Mission to Mercury - BepiColombo

What is Mercury?

Mercury is the closest and first planet in our solar system as shown in picture1.

Picture1

What is BepI Colombo?

The Image of BepI Colombo 

Image Credit- Wikipedia 

BepiColombo is a joint mission between European Space Agency- ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), executed under ESA leadership.

It is first mission on the Planet- Mercury from ESA.
It will have two parts - The Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO).
The Mercury Planetary Orbiter(MPO)
The MPO will study the surface and internal composition of the planet.   
The Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter(MMO)
The MMO will study Mercury’s magnetosphere, that is, the region of space around the planet that is influenced by its magnetic field.

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The Necessity and Importance

Going to Mercury  and reading the valuable information will enhance human understanding of the planet and it will also help in understanding the formation of our solar system.  

Previous Missions

Mercury could not be explored as a planet earlier. So far, only two spacecraft have visited the planet: NASA’s Mariner 10, which flew past three times in 1974–5 and returned the first close-up images of the planet, and NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft, which performed three flybys (two in 2008 and one in 2009) before entering orbit around the planet in March 2011.

Challenges

Europe’s space scientists have identified the mission as one of the most challenging long-term planetary projects, because Mercury’s proximity to the Sun makes it difficult for a spacecraft to reach the planet and to survive in the harsh environment found there.

Some facts

The four-tonne spacecraft will be launched into orbit by Esa’s rocket Ariane 5 from the European spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, on 20 October.

It will then make a 5.2bn mile (8.5bn km) journey over seven years to reach its destination by 2025.

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