BepiColombo – Astronomy Now

BepiColombo gets first glimpse of Mercury

5 October 2021 Stephen Clark

The European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft swept past Mercury Friday in the first of six high-speed flybys to gradually set up the probe’s trajectory for a critical manoeuvre in 2025 to enter orbit around the Solar System’s innermost planet.

Everything You Need to Know About Planet Mercury

18 August 2021 Astronomy Now

The innermost planet, Mercury, may be the smallest in the Solar System, but it’s also home to some big surprises.

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

12 April 2020 Stephen Clark

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 steer the mission on a course toward Mercury.

Scientists plan for BepiColombo fly-by despite coronavirus limitations

30 March 2020 Keith Cooper

Scientists are still preparing for the crucial fly-by of Earth by the joint European–Japanese BepiColombo mission to Mercury on 10 April, despite the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc.

BepiColombo ready for long cruise to Mercury

10 April 2019 Astronomy Now

The European Space Agency’s ambitious BebiCololmbo probe has completed commissioning and is now clear for the long voyage to Mercury

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

21 October 2018 William Harwood

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 clutches to slip into orbit around hellish Mercury.

JWST launch slips to early 2019

5 October 2017 Stephen Clark

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 inside a cryogenic vacuum chamber in Houston.

BepiColombo Mercury mission tested for journey into ‘pizza oven’

10 July 2017 Stephen Clark

Three spacecraft built in Europe and Japan have completed their final joint tests to ensure they are ready for departure to Mercury on an Ariane 5 rocket late next year on the nearly £1.5 billion BepiColombo mission to survey the Solar System’s innermost planet.

Rare transit of Mercury to take place on 9 May

1 May 2016 Astronomy Now

On Monday, 9 May there will be a rare transit of Mercury, when the innermost planet in our solar system will pass directly between the Earth and the Sun. The last time this happened was in 2006. With a properly filtered telescope and fine weather, the entire 7½-hour event can be seen from the British Isles.