BepiColombo Jettisons Mercury Transfer Module 200 Million Kilometres From Earth
Updated
Updated · European Space Agency · Sep 4
BepiColombo Jettisons Mercury Transfer Module 200 Million Kilometres From Earth
3 articles · Updated · European Space Agency · Sep 4
Summary
Signal acquired at 15:52 CEST confirmed BepiColombo had successfully separated its Mercury Transfer Module, with telemetry showing all systems nominal and MPO’s solar panels charging the spacecraft.
More than 200 million kilometres from Earth, the maneuver had to be executed without real-time intervention; controllers first saw a Doppler shift at 14:41 CEST consistent with the planned separation.
The separation starts BepiColombo’s arrival phase after nearly eight years in space and billions of kilometres travelled, leaving ESA’s MPO and JAXA’s Mio on course for Mercury orbit insertion on Nov. 21.
MPO will power the spacecraft stack until Mio separates on Dec. 9-10, with the joint ESA-JAXA mission’s science phase scheduled to begin in April 2027.