BepiColombo successfully completes first phase to insert two spacecraft into Mercury orbit
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The joint European/Japanese duel orbiter BepiColombo mission yesterday successfully completed the first phase for placing its two spacecraft into Mercury orbit.
Acquisition of signal via two Estrack deep space antennas, in Cebreros (Spain) and Malargüe (Argentina), have confirmed the successful separation of BepiColombo’s Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) from the spacecraft stack. Current telemetry indicates all systems are nominal, and MPO’s solar panels are charging the spacecraft’s batteries.
The Mercury Transfer Module was used to transport both Europe’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Japan’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio) to Mercury. The two orbiters are still attached to each other, and will enter orbit together on November 21, 2026. The final crucial phase is when they separate on December 9th to move into complementary orbits.
Science operations are scheduled to begin in April 2027.
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Wild to think that this mission has taken 8 years to get to Mercury’s orbit.
But that’s orbital mechanics for you.
And from what I understand, the orbital mechanics to get to Mercury are especially difficult.
Difficult when propulsion (fuel) limited. Enough mass ratio in LEO drops it to a few months with relatively frequent windows.
To be sure, BepiColombo lost about 11 months when it had problems with its propulsion system a couple years ago.
Still, you need a lot of delta-v to reach Mercury – more than you need for escape velocity from the Solar System, in fact.