For the first time, the BepiColombo spacecraft, launched jointly by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), flew past Mercury on Saturday night, writes MTI. The event occurred at 23:34 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), 200 kilometers above the planet’s surface. Europe’s first Mercury mission arrived at its destination, but also its shortest visit. BepiColombo moves too fast to orbit the planet and fly straight past it. However, under the influence of the gravitational force of Mercury, it will slow down somewhat and, as a result of passages in the coming years, will set in a stable orbit around the planet over time. This will happen at the end of 2025.
The probe arriving at Mercury has turned in two directions: the part called Bepi was in a low orbit around the planet, and the part called Milo, made by the Japan Space Agency, is collecting from a greater distance. planet data. ESA’s € 1.3 billion space probe is carrying out an extraordinary mission. Mercury has an extreme temperature, the sun is very attractive and the sun’s rays create hellish conditions. Both probes are designed to withstand the temperature of 430 degrees Celsius, which is typical of the sunny side of the planet, and the cold of minus 180 degrees Celsius, which is typical of the shady side of Mercury.
Because the two-part structure prevents high-resolution main cameras from operating for the time being, the first shots will be taken by engineering cameras outside the probe. The resulting black-and-white images will be of sufficient quality for experts to recognize some known surface formations.
For example, the Kuiper Crater Dave Rothery , according to a researcher at the Open University in the UK.
We’ll see. We know what should be in the field of view, but given the light conditions and what these small cameras are capable of, there are some uncertainties
, the expert told the BBC News.
Images will only be taken by BepiColombo after leaving the point closest to Mercury, as it will still be on the night side of the planet. But as you begin to move away, you will see the celestial body more sharply. ESA has promised to compile the recordings into motion pictures and to present them on Monday
Hungarian researchers also participated in the development of BepiColombo. Among other things, they were involved in an ion mass spectrometer project called Planetary Ion Camera (PICAM), which acts as a camera for charged particles to study the chain of surface ionization processes. The low-voltage power supply that runs the device was developed by engineers at the Mign Wigner Physics Research Center, as well as the BepiColombo simulation environment.
The mission aims to learn more about Mercury, which is only slightly larger than Earth. accompanying moon, and has a huge iron core. So far, only two NASA spacecraft, Mariner10 and Messenger, have been able to approach Mercury.
If you comment, talk, argue you want it or you just want to share your opinion with others, you can do it on the 24.hu Facebook page . If you read more about the reasons, you will find answers here .
Note: This article has been indexed to our site. We do not claim ownership or copyright of any of the content above. To see the article at original source Click Here