BepiColombo Space Probe Makes First Venus Fly-by on Way to Mercury

The European-Japanese probe BepiColombo was launched almost two years ago

BepiColombo Space Probe Makes First Venus Fly-by on Way to Mercury

Photo Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM

BepiColombo images Venus during close approach

Highlights
  • BepiColombo will make one more fly-by of Venus and six of Mercury
  • The fly-by is the second of nine so-called planetary gravity assists
  • The last spacecraft to visit Mercury was NASA’s Messenger probe
Advertisement

A spacecraft bound for Mercury swung by Venus on Thursday, using Earth's neighbour to adjust its course on the way to the solar system's smallest and innermost planet.

Launched almost two years ago, the European-Japanese probe BepiColombo took a black-and-white snapshot of Venus from a distance of 17,000 kilometers (10,560 miles), with some of its own instruments in the frame.

The fly-by is the second of nine so-called planetary gravity assists that the spacecraft needs for its seven-year trip to Mercury. The first, around Earth, took place in April.

The European Space Agency has described the EUR 1.3 billion (roughly Rs. 11,183 crores) mission as one of its most challenging yet. Mercury's extreme temperatures, the intense gravity pull of the sun and blistering solar radiation make for hellish conditions.

BepiColombo will make one more fly-by of Venus and six of Mercury itself to slow down before its arrival in 2025. Once there, the spacecraft will split in two, releasing a European orbiter nicknamed Bepi that will swoop into Mercury's inner orbit while Mio, built by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, gathers data from a greater distance.

Both probes are designed to cope with temperatures varying from 430 degrees Celsius (806 F) on the side facing the sun, and -180 degrees Celsius (-292 F) in Mercury's shadow.

Researchers hope the BepiColombo mission will help them understand more about Mercury, which is only slightly larger than Earth's moon and has a massive iron core.

The last spacecraft to visit Mercury was NASA's Messenger probe, which ended its mission in 2015 after a four-year orbit. Before that, NASA's Mariner 10 flew past the planet in the mid-1970s.


Is OnePlus 8T the best 'value flagship' of 2020? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Xbox One Gets New Xbox UI With October Update, Ahead of Xbox Series X, Series S Release
Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat LinkedIn Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News

Advertisement

Follow Us
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »