BEPICOLOMBO (ESA/JAXA SPACECRAFT)

With a simple Google Cardboard-style virtual reality (VR) viewer, you can experience how it feels to be a spacecraft hurtling past Earth. This 360-degree VR simulation of a flyby manoeuvre performed by ESA’s Mercury-bound BepiColombo spacecraft takes you on a trip past Earth at the distance of only 12 700 km, closer than the orbit of Europe’s navigational satellites Galileo. The simulation displays the field of view of two of BepiColombo’s science instruments (MERTIS and PHEBUS) and two of its three MCAM selfie cameras during the gravity-assist flyby at Earth on 10 April 2020. The simulation was created using the SPICE software developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and data generated by the European Space and Astronomy Centre (ESAC)in Spain. BepiColombo, a joint mission of ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is on a seven-year cruise to Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet of the Solar System. Launched in October 2018, BepiColombo follows an intricate trajectory that involves nine gravity-assist flyby manoeuvres. In addition to the flyby at Earth, BepiColombo will perform two flybys at Venus and six at Mercury, its target planet. The manoeuvres slow down the spacecraft as it needs to constantly brake against the gravitational pull of the Sun in order to be able to enter the correct orbit around Mercury in 2025, ahead of commencing science operations in early 2026. Credit: ESA SPICE Service/RHEA Group. ★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications. Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/SpaceInVideos Follow us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/ESAonTwitter On Facebook: http://bit.ly/ESAonFacebook On Instagram: http://bit.ly/ESAonInstagram On Flickr: http://bit.ly/ESAonFlickr We are Europe's gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related. Copyright information about our videos is available here: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Terms_and_Conditions #ESA #BepiColombo #360º

BepiColombo, ESA’s first mission to Mercury, is temporarily returning to Earth for its first planetary flyby on 10 April 2020. Launched in October 2018, the spacecraft is on a seven year journey to the innermost planet in our Solar System. During this time, nine planetary flybys - one of Earth, two of Venus and six of Mercury - will reduce its speed and modify its trajectory. The first flyby will see the Earth act as a brake to decelerate the spacecraft and fine tune its orbit towards the next scheduled flyby past Venus in October 2020. It will also give scientists the opportunity to calibrate the on board ultraviolet spectrometer, PHEBUS, and make measurements of the Earth’s environment using some of its instruments. BepiColombo, a joint mission between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA, contains two scientific orbiters: the European Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Japanese Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter. It also contains a European transfer module and sunshade to cope with the high temperatures at the planet closest to our Sun. The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive in orbit around Mercury in December 2025. Learn more about BepiColombo: http://bit.ly/ESABepiColombo ★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications. Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/SpaceInVideos Follow us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/ESAonTwitter On Facebook: http://bit.ly/ESAonFacebook On Instagram: http://bit.ly/ESAonInstagram On Flickr: http://bit.ly/ESAonFlickr We are Europe's gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related. Copyright information about our videos is available here: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Terms_and_Conditions #ESA #BepiColombo #Flyby

In our latest webinar Indhu Varatharajan joins us to discus some of the exciting instrumentation on the BepiColombo spacecraft. Indhu shares her work on MERTIS (the Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) and what it will reveal about the planet. She explains how the BepiColombo mission builds on the last mission to Mercury and what we hope to learn about the planet's surface. Guest: Indhu Varatharajan, PhD Research Fellow at German Aerospace Center (DLR) Host: NUCLIO – Núcleo Interactivo de Astronomia https://nuclio.org/ Europlanet 2020 RI received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 654208.

And other questions people have been asking me about this european space agency mission. It'll take 7 years to get to Mercury and then reach a lower orbit than MESSENGER with more payload.

Highlights from the days up to and including the exciting launch of the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury. BepiColombo launched at 01:45 GMT from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. It will make a seven year cruise to Mercury, flying by Earth once, Venus twice and Mercury six times before entering orbit. It is the first European mission to Mercury, the smallest and least explored planet in the inner Solar System, and the first to send two spacecraft to make complementary measurements of the planet and its dynamic environment at the same time. The mission comprises two science orbiters: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). The ESA-built Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) will carry the orbiters to Mercury using a combination of solar electric propulsion and gravity assist flybys. Learn more about #BepiColombo: http://bit.ly/ESAsBepiColombo ★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/SpaceInVideos Follow ESA on Twitter: http://bit.ly/ESAonTwitter On Facebook: http://bit.ly/ESAonFacebook On Instagram: http://bit.ly/ESAonInstagram On Flickr: http://bit.ly/ESAonFlickr ESA is Europe's gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related. Copyright information about our videos is available here: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Terms_and_Conditions

Mercury has long been the least explored planet in our solar system, but that could be about to change thanks to a British-built spacecraft. Overnight the European Space Agency launched its first mission to the planet. It's called BepiColombo and will take up to seven years to get there. Sky's science correspondent Thomas Moore has this report looking at its epic five billion mile journey. SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel for more videos: http://www.youtube.com/skynews Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/skynews Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skynews Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skynews For more content go to http://news.sky.com and download our apps: Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sky-news/id316391924?mt=8 Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bskyb.skynews.android&hl=en_GB

Arianespace has successfully launched the BepiColombo spacecraft on its mission to explore Mercury, the smallest and least known terrestrial planet in the Solar System. Today’s launch, the seventh of the year and the fifth with Ariane 5, took place on Friday, October 19 at 10:45 p.m. (local time) from the Guiana Space Center (CSG), Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America. BepiColombo is an interdisciplinary scientific mission designed to study the planet Mercury, carried out jointly by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). With this launch for ESA, Arianespace continues to guarantee independent and reliable access to space for Europe, while also expanding humankind’s knowledge of the Universe to make life better on Earth.

日本時間10月20日（土）アリアン５型ロケットによる国際水星探査計画BepiColombo打上げの模様を中継します。 番組放送時間： 10：00～12：00（日本時間 ）　　 打上げ予定日時：　日本時間　10月20日（土）　10時45分28秒 　　　　　　　　　　　　〔フランス領ギアナ現地時間　10月19日（金）　22時45分28秒〕 打上げ場所：クールー宇宙基地（フランス領ギアナ） ※打上げ日時及び放送時間はミッションの状況等により、変更になる場合がございます。 水星磁気圏探査機「みお」（プロジェクトページ） http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/mio/ JAXA 国際水星探査計画BepiColombo http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/bepi/index_j.html

Mercury is a planetary misfit, an oddball in the solar system, and this month the BepiColombo mission is setting off to study it in unprecedented detail. The best images we have of Mercury are from NASA's MESSENGER mission, which pictured its cratered surface and curious features earlier this decade. Soon, the joint European and Japanese BepiColombo mission will head there to take an even closer look. Watch the launch of BepiColombo live on 20 October 2018 at 1:45 GMT: http://bit.ly/BepiColomboLaunch Learn more about #BepiColombo: http://bit.ly/ESAsBepiColombo This video is also available in the following languages: German: https://youtu.be/yElZ1NHcgdY French: https://youtu.be/8sWBo1z170U Italian: https://youtu.be/nKXiF71RClQ Spanish: https://youtu.be/GERlq_9J3-I Portuguese: https://youtu.be/7PY9Wgi72oI Greek: https://youtu.be/36BKw7iubLI Hungarian: https://youtu.be/tDDk7nNcpfI ★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/SpaceInVideos Follow ESA on Twitter: http://bit.ly/ESAonTwitter On Facebook: http://bit.ly/ESAonFacebook On Instagram: http://bit.ly/ESAonInstagram On Flickr: http://bit.ly/ESAonFlickr ESA is Europe's gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related. Copyright information about our videos is available here: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Terms_and_Conditions

In the early hours of tomorrow morning (Saturday 20th October) a spacecraft made possible by the best of UK space science is set to blast off bound for Mercury. BepiColombo is the first European Space Agency mission to Mercury, the least explored planet in the inner Solar System, and will provide new insight into how the planet closest to the Sun formed and evolved. The spacecraft will travel 9 billion km taking 7 years to reach Mercury and is designed to survive extreme temperatures, from +450 to -180 degrees.

Mercury, the least explored planet of the inner Solar System, is the target of BepiColombo, the ESA/JAXA mission that is going to reveal the secrets of the smallest of the rocky planets. Watch the launch of #BepiColombo live on 20 October 2018 at 3:45 CEST: http://bit.ly/BepiColomboLaunch Learn more about BepiColombo: http://bit.ly/ESAsBepiColombo ★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/SpaceInVideos Follow ESA on Twitter: http://bit.ly/ESAonTwitter On Facebook: http://bit.ly/ESAonFacebook On Instagram: http://bit.ly/ESAonInstagram On Flickr: http://bit.ly/ESAonFlickr ESA is Europe's gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related. Copyright information about our videos is available here: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Terms_and_Conditions

Meet Bepi, Mio and MTM, three new space explorers about to start an extraordinary journey to Mercury, a planet of extremes and mysteries. Find out how these bold spacecraft have been preparing for their epic adventure, from space school to flyby practice. Watch as their training covers not only planetary science and space education, but also cultural aspects of their places of origin: Bepi and MTM were born in Europe, while Mio comes from Japan. Follow Bepi, Mio and MTM as they become fascinated by their destination thanks to the curious discoveries made by their cousin Messenger. Learn about the science questions that Bepi and Mio will investigate, from Mercury's geology and surface composition to the magnetic field and its interaction with the solar wind. Finally, walk with them to the launch pad and wish them a great start to a memorable adventure. This video is also available in the following languages: 日本人: https://youtu.be/Z96Sw0NyvEg Français: https://youtu.be/m5vaMYJupfM Deutsche: https://youtu.be/fvahTWyhV1g Italiano: https://youtu.be/ziMwI5fR2HA Español: https://youtu.be/2VnUX6yRn4Q Learn more about #BepiColombo: http://bit.ly/ESAsBepiColombo ★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/SpaceInVideos Follow ESA on Twitter: http://bit.ly/ESAonTwitter On Facebook: http://bit.ly/ESAonFacebook On Instagram: http://bit.ly/ESAonInstagram On Flickr: http://bit.ly/ESAonFlickr ESA is Europe's gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related. Copyright information about our videos is available here: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Terms_and_Conditions

BepiColombo is scheduled for launch at 01:45 GMT (03:45 CEST) on 20 October on an Ariane 5 from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou. Final assembly of the two orbiters and transfer module has taken place, ready for the spacecraft to be integrated into its Ariane 5 launcher. BepiColombo is Europe’s first mission to Mercury, the smallest and least explored planet in the inner Solar System. It is a joint endeavour between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, and consists of two scientific orbiters: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). The mission will study all aspects of Mercury, from the structure and dynamics of its magnetosphere and how it interacts with the solar wind, to its internal structure with its large iron core, and the origin of the planet’s magnetic field. More about #BepiColombo: http://bit.ly/ESAsBepiColombo ★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/SpaceInVideos Follow ESA on Twitter: http://bit.ly/ESAonTwitter On Facebook: http://bit.ly/ESAonFacebook On Instagram: http://bit.ly/ESAonInstagram On Flickr: http://bit.ly/ESAonFlickr ESA is Europe's gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related. Copyright information about our videos is available here: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Terms_and_Conditions

BepiColombo is one of the cornerstone missions of the European Space Agency (ESA), in cooperation with Japan, and will provide the most complete exploration of Mercury to date. The mission consists of two separate spacecraft that will orbit the planet. The ESA is building one of the main spacecraft, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), and the Japanese space agency JAXA contributes the other, the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). BepiColombo will help to reveal information on the composition and history of Mercury, as well as general information on the formation of the rocky planets, including the Earth. University of Leicester Involvement Professor G.W Fraser was the original Principal Investigator for the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (MIXS). His death in March 2014 is a major loss to the program, but work on the instrument he cared so much about, continues. George's successor in the MIXS Principal Investigator role is Professor Emma Bunce. Our roles include: Development, production and calibration of the MIXS optics; Calibration of the focal plane detector; Construction and test of the MIXS instrument; Flight data analysis The MIXS Instrument MIXS consists of two channels; MIXS-C a collimator providing efficient flux collection over a broad range of energies with a wide field of view for planetary mapping and MIXS-T, an imaging telescope with a narrow field of view for high spatial resolution measurements of the surface. MIXS has a companion instrument the SIXS (Solar Intensity X-ray Spectrometer) being developed by the University of Helsinki which will perform measurements of X-rays and particles of solar origin. The combination of these instruments will provide details on the elemental composition of the surface layer of Mercury.

Tuesday, 18th September, 12:45-13:45 Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) Mercury and BepiColombo • New results on the birth and strange chemistry of Mercury – Thomas Ronnet and Bastien Brugger (University of Aix Marseille) • One month to BepiColombo launch – Johannes Benkhoff (European Space Agency) • Investigating mysterious Mercury with BepiColombo – Joana Oliveira (European Space Agency) • The Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter of the BepiColombo mission – Go Murakami (JAXA)

(4 Aug 2018) LEADIN: Scientists are busily testing a spacecraft bound for Mercury at the European Space Agency's (ESA) spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The BepiColombo mission is hoping to uncover the mysteries of Mercury, one of the least explored planets in our inner Solar System. STORYLINE: Guiana Space Centre, for the last few months home to the BepiColombo spacecraft, a joint mission between ESA and Japan's aerospace exploration agency. While this spaceport is strategically located close to the equator, the Mercury-bound spacecraft is keeping cool. All four elements of the BepiColombo mission - two orbiters, a transfer module and a sunshield - are being kept at low temperatures in this clean room. They arrived in May from the European Space Agency's ESTEC (European Space Research and Technology Centre) facility in the Netherlands. Studying Mercury will be challenging, its surface can reach temperatures up to 450 degrees Celsius. The spacecraft has been designed and built to withstand such temperatures. "We know that Mercury is very hot and we have to make a satellite that can survive in that harsh environment," says Hajime Hayakawa, JAXA's BepiColombo project manager. "And we know, well, it is very difficult and when we started there was already some development and we think that we can do it. "But actually, the hardware is much harder than we expected and takes a long time, but now we see this is the flight model and will be launched within several months." Before launch, the spacecraft is being covered with this multi-layered insulation - MLI, for short. It's designed to protect the spacecraft from solar and planetary radiation. The white outer is made of ceramic, helping it to withstand potential meteorite impacts. "Now, of course, we do the health checks to verify the system is healthy," says Ulrich Reininghaus, ESA's BepiColombo project manager. "And we did alignment, mechanical checks, electrical checks, all over. We check the propulsion subsystems to see if the propulsion elements are still leak tight in preparation for the fuelling." BepiColombo will study the small, inhospitable planet's structure and magnetic field. It will also assess how it interacts with the Sun and solar wind. The spacecraft is composed of two modules, one to map the planet, the other to investigate its environment. It's set for launch in mid-October. It will take about seven years to reach Mercury. It's expected to arrive in December 2025. The orbiter is named after Italian professor Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo, a mathematician and engineer from Italy's University of Padua. Only two spacecrafts have visited Mercury before - NASA's Mariner 10 flew by in the 1970s. NASA's Messenger mission reached the planet in March 2011. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Google+: https://plus.google.com/b/102011028589719587178/+APArchive​ Tumblr: https://aparchives.tumblr.com/​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/ea5c4f0a1ef9121e3da6c396de6e56ce

ESA Web TV talks to BepiColombo project manager Ulrich Reininghaus inside the cleanroom at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, where the mission is undergoing final preparations for its launch to Mercury. BepiColombo is a joint mission between ESA and JAXA. It consists of two science orbiters – ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter – and the Mercury Transfer Module, which will use solar electric propulsion to carry the two orbiters to Mercury, along with gravity assist flybys at Earth, Venus and Mercury itself. It is Europe's first mission to Mercury, the smallest and least explored terrestrial planet in the inner Solar System. ★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe More information: http://bit.ly/ESAsBepiColombo

How much do we really know about Mercury? Professor David Rothery shares what he’s learned as part of his role in the European Space Agency’s BepiColombo mission to Mercury that is launching in autumn 2018. He shared what we know about the closest planet to the sun and what knowledge we hope this mission will help us learn. David is Professor of Planetary Geosciences at the Open University, based in Milton Keynes, where he teaches about planets, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and geology in general. Although he loves the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, he has been part of the team for the mission to Mercury since 2006. Using NASA data, he is currently working with his PhD students and his European counterparts to prepare geological maps of Mercury to set the context for BepiColombo’s observations This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Preparation is well under way for BepiColombo. Recently the long flight to Mercury was simulated at ESOC, ESA's Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, where it will be controlled during its journey after its launch from Kourou. More information: http://bit.ly/ESAsBepiColombo ★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe

Enjoy this animation visualising BepiColombo's launch and cruise to Mercury. Some aspects have been simplified for the purpose of this animation. The joint ESA-JAXA mission comprises the European Mercury Planetary Orbiter and Japan's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, which will be transported to the innermost planet by the Mercury Transfer Module. The animation highlights several key milestones, including the solar array and antenna deployments once in space, through to the arrival at Mercury seven years later. When approaching Mercury, the transfer module will separate and the two science orbiters, still together, will be captured into orbit around the planet. Their altitude will be adjusted until the Magnetospheric Orbiter's desired orbit is reached. Then the Planetary Orbiter will separate and descend to its lower orbit, and the two craft will begin their scientific exploration of Mercury and its environment. More information: http://bit.ly/ESAsBepiColombo Credits: ESA/ATG medialab ★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe