Updates BepiColombo updates

[llarian]

Man! What a liftoff. The Ariane 5 always looks like it's leaping for space.

 

[Notebook]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45838991

By Jonathan Amos
BBC Science Correspondent

 

[IronRain]

 

[mahdavi3d]

 

[Notebook]

Title BepiColombo’s first space selfies
Released 22/10/2018 9:00 am
Copyright ESA/BepiColombo/MTM – CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Description
This trio of images was captured by the BepiColombo spacecraft after it blasted off into space at 01:45 GMT on 20 October on its seven year cruise to Mercury, the innermost planet of the Solar System.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/10/BepiColombo_s_first_space_selfies

 

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Title BepiColombo magnetometer boom deployed - gif sequence
Released 26/10/2018 9:00 am
Copyright ESA/BepiColombo/MTM , CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Description
The 2.5 m long boom carrying the magnetometer sensors onboard ESA’s BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) has been successfully deployed. The sensors are now prepared to measure the magnetic field on the way to Mercury.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Im...mbo_magnetometer_boom_deployed_-_gif_sequence

 

[Notebook]

16 November 2018
In mid-December, twin discs will begin glowing blue on the underside of a minibus-sized spacecraft in deep space. At that moment Europe and Japan’s BepiColombo mission will have just come a crucial step closer to Mercury.
This week sees the in-flight commissioning and test firing of the four thrusters – with one or two firing at a time – of the Solar Electric Propulsion System that BepiColombo relies on to reach the innermost planet. This marks the first in-flight operation of the most powerful and highest-performance electric propulsion system flown on any space mission to date.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/S...e_thrusters_propelling_BepiColombo_to_Mercury

 

[Notebook]

5 December 2018
BepiColombo, the joint ESA/JAXA spacecraft on a mission to Mercury, is now firing its thrusters for the first time in flight.
On Sunday, BepiColombo carried out the first successful manoeuver using two of its four electric propulsion thrusters. After more than a week of testing which saw each thruster individually and meticulously put through its paces, the intrepid explorer is now one step closer to reaching the innermost planet of the Solar System.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/BepiColombo_now_firing_on_all_cylinders

 

[Notebook]

18 December 2018
On Monday this week, BepiColombo began its very first routine electric propulsion firing.
After meticulous testing of the spacecraft's four high-tech ion thrusters, the mission team have now fired up the spacecraft for its first thruster burn ‘arc’.

www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/BepiColombo_s_first_routine_firing_in_space

 

[Notebook]

BepiColombo is ready for its long cruise
5 April 2019
Following a series of tests conducted in space over the past five months, the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission has successfully completed its near-Earth commissioning phase and is now ready for the operations that will take place during the cruise and, eventually, for its scientific investigations at Mercury.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/BepiColombo/BepiColombo_is_ready_for_its_long_cruise

 

[Notebook]

Title Monitoring camera checkout
Released 17/06/2019 11:00 am
Copyright ESA/BepiColombo/MTM , CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Description
How many times have you taken a selfie and posted it instantly to your favourite social media channel? The Mercury Transfer Module of the BepiColombo spacecraft, currently en route to Mercury, is equipped with three ‘selfie-cams’ and this morning captured a series of snapshots and subsequently posted them to its Twitter account.
The images were taken on 17 June between 04:13 UT and 04:51 UT and downlinked to Earth at around 07:20 UT.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2019/06/Monitoring_camera_checkout