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Darmstadt/ Kourou (dpa) – The ambitious Euro-Japanese space mission to Mercure has started: a European launcher Ariane 5 was launched on Saturday at 3:45 am (CEST) with the space probe BepiColombo aboard the Kourou space station in French Guiana French.
Both in Kourou and in the Darmstadt control center (ESOC), the beginning of the mission was followed with great interest. The probe, which carries two satellites, should reach its destination in December 2025, exploring in particular the surface and magnetic field of the planet closest to the Sun.
During the seven-year voyage of the 6.4-meter and 4.1-tonne space probe, researchers have to intervene several times from Earth. Over the next few days, about 80 experts will follow the mission at the Darmstadt Control Center (ESOC). The tension will rise again in mid-December. Then, for the first time, the ionic motors of the probe will be used. If they do not work, the mission could fail.
The spacecraft must cross the planets nine times – once Earth, twice Venus and six times Mercury – especially to slow down. Every flyby of a planet requires intensive preparation, said the head of the European Space Agency Esa, Johann-Dietrich Wörner. "We have to be careful not to fly in the sun, which means we have to slow down all the time."
Wörner estimated the total cost of the mission, including development and operation, at around two billion euros. Of these, Esa carries 1.5 billion euros. The eponym of the mission is the Italian mathematician Bepi Colombo (1920-1984), who had calculated the bases of a trajectory towards Mercury.
If the mission goes as planned, two satellites separate from the probe at the target and explore Mercury in different orbits. The Esa MPO (Mercury Planetary Orbiter) satellite, also called "Bepi", will study the surface. The Japanese MMO (Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter) satellite – or "Mio" – is targeting the planet's magnetic field. It is said that it crash after about 3.5 years of using the Mercury.
There are eleven cameras and instruments aboard the European satellite. Four of them concern German research institutes. These include the Mertis infrared spectrometer from Münster. He should explore the surface of Mercury and help understand the origin of our solar system. At least a year is devoted to research, but Bepi could work for four years. Then the device is supposed to burn, so that Esa.
Until now, only two US probes have explored the planet closest to the Sun: "Mariner 10" in the 1970s and the probe "Messenger", which came into orbit around the planet in 2011. The surface Rocky Mercury is, like that of our moon, full of craters. The temperature differences on the planet are extreme. During the day, more than 400 degrees are reached, at night it is cold until minus 180 degrees.
Esa on the BepiColombo mission
Esa about Mercury
Nasa about Mercury
Characteristics Merkur on wissen.de
NASA Mercury Fact Sheet
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