Operation Phi-Colombo will include two spacecraft, one of which will photograph the surface of the planet Mercury and the other of its magnetosphere. They will take off together in 2016 but reach the planet Hema in 2024 and then separate
After several delays due to technical glitches, the first European-Japanese orbiter to attack Mars is entering final testing stages for a 2016 launch. One spacecraft from the BepiColombo mission was transferred to the European Space Agency's test facility for vibration, heating and other hardware tests to ensure its readiness for the extreme mission.
Since Mercury is close to the Sun, Pi-Colombo faces harsh environmental conditions. The maximum temperatures you will experience will be 350 degrees Celsius, which required modifications to the test room to simulate higher temperatures.
Pi-Colombo is a unique space operation because it includes not only one spacecraft but two that will fly in different orbits. The Mercury Planetary Orbiter, which is now undergoing testing, and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter will try to learn more details about the mysterious planet. NASA's Messenger spacecraft has spent the past few years orbiting the planet Hema, but before that we had little information about the planet. Before MESSENGER, only short flybys by Mariner 10 in the XNUMXs had produced spacecraft-based information about the planet Hema.
Messenger produced interesting data. It revealed more details about the thin atmosphere of Mercury and discovered the possibility of water ice in permanently shadowed areas. The European and Japanese space agencies are seeking to advance our understanding of the closest planet to the Sun when the Phi-Colombo spacecraft arrive there in 2024.
There are so many questions that the planet Hema presents to us and Pi-Colombo will try to answer some of them. For example, the buoyancy of the planet Hema is different from that of the other terrestrial planets for reasons that are only partially known. Scientists are not sure if the planet's core is liquid or solid or even if there are tectonic plates on its surface like on Earth. Its magnetic field is a mystery given the fact that Mars Venus and the Moon do not have such a field and there are many questions about the atmosphere - how it was formed and how the magnetic field and the solar wind work together.
The European Space Agency announced that the two spacecraft will be driven into orbit around the Hemara force together, when they are connected using the component known as the Mercury Transfer Model (MTM). Nem will reach a polar orbit that will allow the magnetosphere compass to receive the resources necessary for survival until the two spacecraft are transferred to separate orbits.
As for why it takes so long to get there? To save fuel, the combined spacecraft will pass by Venus and Mercury to reach the right spot. As soon as the two spacecraft arrive there, the two spacecraft are planned to operate for one year with the possibility of an extension for another year.
Update: After the publication of this news, NASA announced that the Mercury Messenger spacecraft will continue to operate in 2015 as well, after the fuel calculation showed that this is possible
For information on the Universe Today website
More of the topic in Hayadan:
- Baby, Hema's star is shrinking
- This is what a white eclipse from the planet Mercury looks like (The news also includes updates on the end of the Mercury Messenger mission)
