Spacecraft swings past Venus on long road to Mercury

Spacecraft swings past Venus on long road to Mercury

The European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft flew by Venus late Wednesday, using the planet’s gravity to help redirect the probe toward its ultimate destination of Mercury.

The encounter with Venus also provided an opportunity to collect bonus scientific observations in tandem with Japan’s Akatsuki orbiter, which has been studying the Venusian atmosphere and climate since arriving there in 2015.

For planetary scientists, a swing past to our mysterious neighbor Venus is pretty good scenery. And conveniently, Venus' location makes it a powerful navigational tool for spacecraft visiting Mercury and the sun: A spacecraft can use a carefully choreographed loop past Venus to adjust its trajectory deeper into the inner solar system. 

Although the spacecraft's primary camera wasn't accessible, two smaller "selfie" cameras on the spacecraft did attempt to photograph Venus during the maneuver, according to an ESA statement before the flyby. 

Once in orbit around Mercury, the European Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Japanese Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter will separate to enter their own orbits and perform independent measurements. 

BepiColombo’s European-built science orbiter will map Mercury and study the planet’s geologic history, while the Japanese component of the mission will observe the solar wind’s influence on Mercury.

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/10/15/mercury-bound-spacecraft-gets-an-assist-from-venus/

Source: https://www.space.com/bepicolombo-mercury-spacecraft-makes-first-venus-flyby

Source: https://www.universetoday.com/148345/astronomers-report-theyve-detected-the-amino-acid-glycine-in-the-atmosphere-of-venus/

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