About BepiColombo spacecraft:
- It is a joint European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission to Mercury.
- The mission was named after Giuseppe "Bepi" Colombo, an Italian mathematician and engineer who made significant contributions to the understanding of Mercury's orbit.
- It was launched on October 20, 2018, and is an ambitious and complex mission designed to study Mercury's surface, composition, magnetic field and its interaction with the solar environment.
- The BepiColombo spacecraft consists of two main components:
- Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO): The MPO is primarily provided by ESA and is responsible for mapping and studying Mercury's surface, as well as its composition and topography.
- Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO): The MMO is provided by JAXA and focuses on studying Mercury's magnetic field and magnetosphere.
- Objectives:
- Investigating Mercury's surface and composition to better understand its geological history and formation processes.
- Studying Mercury's magnetic field and magnetosphere to gain insights into its internal structure and how it interacts with the solar wind.
- Measuring Mercury's exosphere (a thin atmosphere) and understanding its composition and dynamics.
- Conducting experiments to test certain principles of general relativity and improve our understanding of gravity.
