Artist’s impression of BepiColombo at Mercury. Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab; NASA/JPL

The joint European Space Agency – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency spacecraft BepiColombo was launched onboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana on Saturday, October 20.  The spacecraft consists of two orbiters, ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), and will arrive approximately seven years after launch. The MPO will focus on surface imaging and mapping of the composition and topography of Mercury. The MMO will focus on studies of Mercury’s magnetosphere, plasma environment, and tenuous sodium atmosphere from a higher altitude orbit. READ MORE