BepiColombo spacecraft starts seven-year journey to Mercury

Reuters ^ | 20 OCT 2018 | M. Sheahan & K. Takenaka

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TOKYO (Reuters) - A European-Japanese spacecraft set off on a treacherous seven-year journey to Mercury to probe the solar system’s smallest and least-explored planet.

The BepiColombo mission, only the third ever to visit Mercury, blasted off from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket at 10:45 p.m. local time on Friday (0145 GMT on Saturday), according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

“Launching BepiColombo is a huge milestone for ESA (the European Space Agency) and JAXA, and there will be many great successes to come,” ESA Director General Jan Woerner said in a statement.

“Beyond completing the challenging journey, this mission will return a huge bounty of science.”

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MMO (Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter)

MMO is the 'Spin-type' spacecraft with the spin rate of 4 seconds.

This is because of the "3-dimensional velocity distribution of particles" and "extension of four long wire antennas (15m) and two MASTs (5m) for electromagnetic field measurements with centrifugal force".

The spin axis is almost perpendicular to the Mercury equatorial plane. This is 1) the rejection of solar reflection light into the upper / lower surface of the spacecraft and 2) the continuing aiming of the High-Gain antenna to the Earth with small efforts.

On the side panel, "SSM", a kind of mirror, is fully stuck in order to reflect the much intence sun light.

SSM reflects the optical light and emitts the infrared light, so that the temperature inside the spacecraft is kept near 'the room temperature'. (Normal operation of an electric device is not guaranteed at high temperature.)

Info is from the Jaxa webpage.

BepiColumbo

[BenLurkin]

bttt

[InABunkerUnderSF]

Mission approved in 2000.
RFP issued in 2004.
Prime contractor selected in 2007.
Original launch target date July 2014.
Actual launch 20 October 2018

I suspect this spacecraft has some seriously outdated technology on board. Hope the component rot doesn't impact reliability. Some people have probably spent their entire careers on this one mission.

[AndyTheBear]

Hopefully it will haul back enough mercury to fill as many thermometers as we need.

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Jaxa has a paper model page on the website.

here

[SES1066]

... seven-year journey to Mercury to probe the solar system’s smallest and least-explored planet ...

Accurate only to the extent that you agree with the International Astronomical Union (IAU) reclassification of Pluto as a 'dwarf planet'.

[Moonman62]

I suspect this spacecraft has some seriously outdated technology on board.

...

Typical big government project takes 25 years to get to its destination.

[Calvin Locke]

... spent their entire careers on this one mission.

Ya know, there was an age-limit for personnel assigned to NASA's New Horizons (Pluto-flyby) mission.

They wanted the people to still be working, aka non-retired and alive, when the craft eventually got to Pluto.

[daniel1212]

I think there is much to be discovered of significance about Mercury.

[OrangeHoof]

"Now, let me get this straight. Some Japs are going to strap me into a rocket and shoot me out into space???"

[SuperLuminal]

"Hopefully it will haul back enough mercury to fill as many thermometers as we need."

Yep! Wonder how much of the absurd 18-year delay was due to the possibility of Mercury contamination of the space craft...

[TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed]

I guarantee that whatever was launched is now at the bottom of the ocean.

[Calvin Locke]

I suspect this spacecraft has some seriously outdated technology on board.

Well, at first I thought about the Hubble program, and the budgetary cycles that impacted it through its development and build phases that caused a lot of its problems.

OTOH, look how long Pioneer 11 and Voyagers 1 & 2 lasted...

I'd bet the older technologies were more resistant to the rigors of unprotected space. The processor chips used sapphire-on-silicon technology.

[Moonman62]

Look at the B52 and A10, but they along with the early space probes didn’t take decades to become operational.

Concerning the Hubble, I read here on FR that it’s based on the Keyhole spy satellite and that it would have been much cheaper to launch new replacements than to do service missions with the Shuttle.

And then there is the James Webb space telescope...