{"id":9029,"date":"2016-06-17T05:25:49","date_gmt":"2016-06-17T05:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=9029"},"modified":"2016-06-17T05:25:49","modified_gmt":"2016-06-17T05:25:49","slug":"bepicolombo-mercury-magnetosphere-orbiter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/bepicolombo-mercury-magnetosphere-orbiter\/","title":{"rendered":"BepiColombo Mercury Magnetosphere Orbiter"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_9030\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9030\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9030\" src=\"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg\" alt=\"Source: Airbus DS GmbH 2015\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9030\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Airbus DS GmbH 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The shining face of the Mercury Magnetosphere Orbiter, Japan\u2019s contribution to the\u00a0<a style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #d0103a;\" href=\"http:\/\/sci.esa.int\/bepicolombo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">BepiColombo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0mission to the Solar System\u2019s innermost planet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The octagonal spacecraft is seen here at ESA\u2019s test centre in the Netherlands, where it is being tested alongside the other elements of this dual-spacecraft mission.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">During cruise, it will sit above ESA\u2019s Mercury Planetary Orbiter at the top of the\u00a0<a style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #d0103a;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.esa.int\/spaceinimages\/Images\/2007\/07\/BepiColombo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">BepiColombo stack<\/span><\/a>, to be launched in April 2018. The Mercury Transfer Module will deliver them to Mercury\u00a0<a style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #d0103a;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.esa.int\/spaceinimages\/Images\/2016\/04\/T6_ion_thrusters_installed_on_BepiColombo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">using highly efficient electric propulsion<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">While ESA\u2019s craft will go into a 480 x 1500 km mapping orbit around Mercury, Japan\u2019s will enter a highly elliptical 590 x 11 640 km orbit to study the planet\u2019s environment and its magnetic field.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The two spacecraft employ differing strategies to cope with the temperatures in excess of 350\u00b0C involved in operating around the closest world to the Sun. Japan\u2019s octagonal orbiter will spin 15 times per minute to distribute heat evenly across its surface. But since it cannot spin during BepiColombo\u2019s seven-year journey from Earth, it will be protected within the Magnetospheric Orbiter Sunshield.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"font-weight: normal; color: #d0103a;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.esa.int\/spaceinimages\/Images\/2014\/11\/Moving_BepiColombo_into_ESA_s_space_simulator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">ESA\u2019s orbiter<\/span><\/a>, meanwhile, will maintain a steady attitude, covered with high-temperature insulation with a deep space-facing radiator behind protective louvres that will dump waste heat into space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The octagonal spacecraft is seen here at ESA\u2019s test centre in the Netherlands, where it is being tested alongside the other elements of this dual-spacecraft mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-space-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,467,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,467,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,467,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,467,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,467,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,467,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,467,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",600,400,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",600,400,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,467,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",540,360,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",95,63,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",640,427,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",96,64,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/BepiColombo_Mercury_Magnetosphere_Orbiter_node_full_image_2.jpg",150,100,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/category\/news\/space-news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Space\/ AstroPhysics<\/a>","tag_info":"Space\/ AstroPhysics","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}