A new video released by the European Space Agency (ESA) on Monday, June 27, shows the crater-ridden surface of the solar system’s smallest planet, Mercury, captured during a very close flyby by the BepiColombo spacecraft.
BepiColomboA joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), it is currently on a seven-year cruise through the interior. solar systemUsing the gravitational pull of planets including Mercury, Venus And a land He slows down so he can get in Mercurycourse of the year 2025.
Mercury’s flight, which took place on Thursday, June 23, was the second of BepiColombo’s voyage over the scorched, rocky planet that would be its final destination. Just like it happened during first meeting, which occurred on October 1, 2021, the probe approached the planet at a very close distance of only 120 miles (200 kilometres). That’s closer than the two orbits that make up the BepiColombo mission that will orbit the planet after they arrive.
Related: The BepiColombo spacecraft flies through Venus on a long way to Mercury
The video released by the European Space Agency combines 56 images taken by the spacecraft’s three low-resolution cameras over a 15-minute period shortly after the probe approached the planet. The first image was taken 572 miles (920 km) away and the sequence ends with BepiColombo 3,790 miles (6,099 km) from the planet.
Because BepiColombo approached Mercury from the night side, the spacecraft was unable to image the planet during the closest approach. However, other instruments were operated on board both orbits, and the measurement solar wind near the spacecraft. The solar wind is a stream of charged particles emitted by the sun that passes through the entire solar system, resulting in space weather events on Earth and other planets.
The two orbiters travel in space stacked on top of the transfer module, so their high-resolution imaging devices are hidden and cannot be used during the cruise phase.
The new images reveal a plethora of geological features, including numerous craters, volcanic jets, and tectonic cracks similar to cliffs. Among the craters captured by the Caloris Planitia spacecraft are the largest impact basin on Mercury and one of the largest in the entire solar system. The 960-mile-wide (1,550 km) crater was created by a giant asteroid at least 60 miles (100 km) in diameter. For comparison, scientists estimate that Asteroid Chicxulub The one that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs about 66 million years ago was only 10 kilometers wide.
BepiColombo is the second mission in history designed to orbit Mercury and the third to capture it. It is notoriously difficult to reach the planet because any spacecraft heading into the inner solar system must constantly squeeze the gravitational pull. Sun. Therefore, the expedition engineers plotted a long and winding path that passes through many celestial bodies gravity which slows down the spacecraft.
NASA Messenger The mission studied Mercury between 2011 and 2015. The probe observed a series of puzzling phenomena, including startling magnetic field and presence Ice in shaded pits around the poles of the planet. This ice persists in these regions despite the fact that temperatures in parts of the planet that are exposed to the sun can reach merciless 800 degrees Fahrenheit (420 degrees Celsius). BepiColombo is designed to shed more light on the mysteries of the planet.
The first probe to photograph Mercury was NASA’s spacecraft sailor 10, which made three flights of the planet in the early 1970s as it orbited the sun. The next flight from Mercury will take place by BepiColombo in about a year. Meanwhile, next month, BepiColombo will make its closest approach to the Sun ever.
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