Europe Asia News

In the ESA statement, the following questions were raised: “With only one year left until arrival at its destination, what has the mission accomplished so far? And what can we expect from these two spacecraft once they enter orbit around the smallest and least explored rocky planet in the Solar System?” followed by details:

“Over the past seven years, BepiColombo has performed one Earth flyby, two Venus flybys, and six Mercury flybys. In addition to studying the planets, the mission monitored solar activity and examined how the Sun’s gravity, by bending spacetime, affects radio signals.

According to the ESA, the mission’s main ‘science phase’ will begin once ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO or Mio) enter Mercury’s orbit. However, scientists and engineers have made the most of the long journey leading up to the spacecraft’s arrival.

The statement highlighted that “an important aspect of the mission has been measuring Mercury’s magnetic environment during each close flyby. Mercury’s magnetic field protects the planet’s surface from the intensity of particles coming from the Sun, known as the solar wind,” and continued:

“However, because the planet orbits very close to the Sun—in a region where the solar wind is denser and the Sun’s magnetic field stronger—the size and shape of Mercury’s protective magnetic bubble vary depending on solar activity. Understanding how Mercury’s magnetic field works is one of the key mysteries BepiColombo aims to solve.”