meet the fleet

Artist’s views of the BepiColombo spacecraft

New artist’s views of the BepiColombo spacecraft that will be launched to Mercury in 2018
meet the fleet
Credits: Spacecraft: ESA/ATG medialab; Mercury: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Artist’s impression of the BepiColombo spacecraft at Mercury. The mission comprises ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (foreground) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (background).

The image of Mercury was taken by NASA’s Messenger spacecraft.

BepiColombo in cruise configuration fullwidth
Credits: ESA/ATG medialab

The Mercury Transfer Module (foreground, with two large solar wings) carries the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (middle, with one solar wing pointing up) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (hidden inside the solar shield, on the far side) to Mercury.

BepiColombo stack fullwidth
Credits: ESA/ATG medialab

Artist’s impression of the BepiColombo ‘stack’ as seen from above. JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter can be seen inside the sunshield at the top of the stack, with ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter below. The Mercury Transfer Module is at the bottom.