Important news from BepiColombo, ESA & JAXA’s Mercury mission, due to below par performance of its key ion thrusters:
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Important news from BepiColombo, ESA & JAXA’s Mercury mission, due to below par performance of its key ion thrusters:
1. This week’s 4th Mercury flyby (23:48CEST on 4 Sep) has been deliberately altered to be 35km lower than originally planned, just 165km above the surface.
2. This is the first part of a new lower-power cruise trajectory that will see Bepi now enter Mercury orbit in Nov 2026, 11 months later than originally scheduled.
More below
Fourth Mercury flyby begins BepiColombo’s new trajectory
Teams from across ESA and industry have worked continuously over the past four months to overcome a glitch that prevented BepiColombo’s thrusters from operating at full power. The ESA/JAXA mission is still on track, with a new trajectory that will take it just 165 km from Mercury’s surface on Wednesday.Taking BepiColombo closer to Mercury than it’s ever been before, this flyby will reduce the spacecraft’s speed and change its direction. It also gives us the opportunity to snap images and fine-tune science instrument operations at Mercury before the main mission begins. Closest approach is scheduled for 23:48 CEST (21:48 UTC) on 4 September.
(www.esa.int)