BepiColombo Orbiter Soon To Fly As Close To Mercury As No Other

The website of the European Space Agency (ESA) reports that BepiColombo is a joint mission of Europeans and

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) to Mercury - will make the first of six flybys of the planet. By 2025, the spacecraft will enter orbit around the planet and take measurements. Project scientists note that no device has ever carried out work so close to the planet.

The ship's meeting with Mercury will take place at 23:34 UTC October 1 (02:34 October 2 Moscow time). BepiColombo will fly over the planet at an altitude of about 200 km, taking images and recording scientific data. The MCAM-2 and MCAM-3 cameras on the device provide black-and-white images with a resolution of 1024x1024 pixels.

Highlights during the first BepiColombo flyby over Mercury on October 1, 2021

Let us recall that a year ago the BepiColombo apparatus, on its way to Mercury, flew around Venus at a record-breaking distance. Researchers have collected data that will allow them to study the planet's atmosphere.

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