Tag: BepiColombo

  • Mercury-bound spacecraft gets an assist from Venus

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    A sequence of images taken by one of the monitoring cameras on board the European-Japanese BepiColombo mission to Mercury, as the spacecraft made a close approach of Venus on Oct. 15, 2020. Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM The European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft flew by Venus late Wednesday, using the planet’s gravity to help redirect the probe toward its ultimate…

  • BepiColombo flies by Earth, completing first leg of journey to Mercury

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    A sequence of images captured by one of the selfie cameras on BepiColombo shortly before the closest approach to Earth. Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM Working with a reduced staff due to coronavirus-related restrictions, European Space Agency flight controllers monitored the BepiColombo spacecraft during a flyby of Earth on Friday, a maneuver that used our planet’s gravity to…

  • Lean team readies ESA’s Mercury-bound BepiColombo for planetary flyby

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    Artist’s illustration of the BepiColombo spacecraft during its gravity assist flyby of Earth. Credit: ESA/ATG Medialab One job deemed essential by the European Space Agency during the coronavirus pandemic involves shepherding the BepiColombo spacecraft through a high-speed flyby of planet Earth next month, an immovable event on the $1.8 billion mission’s seven-year journey to Mercury.…

  • Ariane 5 launches two satellites on 7-year voyage to Mercury

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    Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – JM Guillon A powerful European Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana late Friday and boosted a pair of satellites into space for a seven-year plunge into the inner solar system, a voyage requiring seven planetary flybys to slow down enough in the sun’s gravitational…

  • Photos: BepiColombo stacked for launch to Mercury

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    The BepiColombo spacecraft is pictured in launch configuratin shortly before stacking atop the Ariane 5 rocket in French Guiana. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – S. Martin Ground crews at the Guiana Space Center in South America have spent the last few months preparing the BepiColombo spacecraft, a tandem mission with European…

  • Live coverage: Probe heading to Mercury blasts off from French Guiana

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    Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Ariane 5 rocket with the BepiColombo mission to Mercury. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. [tabby title=”Arianespace Webcast”] [tabby title=”ESA Webcast”] [tabbyending] The European Space Agency’s live video webcast will begin approximately 30 minutes before launch…

  • JWST launch slips to early 2019

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    Artist’s concept of the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: Northrop Grumman Extra testing of the James Webb Space Telescope and delays in assembling the powerful observatory will push back the $10 billion mission’s launch by at least six months to early 2019, officials announced last week as the telescope successfully completed an extensive performance test…

  • BepiColombo Mercury mission tested for journey into ‘pizza oven’

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    A view of the BepiColombo spacecraft stacked in launch configuration at the European Space Agency’s ESTEC test center in the Netherlands. The sunshield cover for Japan’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter is pictured at lower right. Credit: Airbus Defense and Space Three spacecraft built in Europe and Japan have completed their final joint tests to ensure they…