Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

BepiColombo spacecraft studies Venus on its way to Mercury

By

Space probe BepiColombo was launched in 2018 and is currently zipping through the vast blackness of the solar system on its way to explore Mercury. But on its journey, it has just flown past Venus, and the researchers are making use of this flyby to collect information on our mysterious neighboring planet.

The BepiColombo mission, a joint venture between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), is a spacecraft full of instruments to study the magnetosphere of Mercury and how this is affected by solar wind. And these same instruments can be used to learn about Venus, which has become a hotspot of research interest since recent evidence suggested there could be potential signs of life in its clouds.

Recommended Videos

One such instrument is the MErcury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS), which has infrared sensors designed to look at the composition of minerals on Mercury’s surface. But it can also be used to look into a portion of the Venusian atmosphere.

An artist's impression visualising the BepiColombo spacecraft flying past Venus.
An artist’s impression visualizing the BepiColombo spacecraft flying past Venus. ESA/ATG medialab

The concept was tested out earlier this year when the spacecraft performed a flyby of Earth, and now it will do the same thing for Venus. “Scientific measurements will also be carried out during approach and departure and at the closest approach to Venus,” said the leaders of the MERTIS instrument, Jörn Helbert from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research and Harald Hiesinger from the Institute of Planetology at the University of Münster.

Related

“Our imaging spectrometer MERTIS, which we built together with industry and international partners, will be used again to make these measurements,” Helbert explained. “We are already expecting some very interesting findings, with more to follow in 2021, when we will be much closer to Venus,” added Hiesinger.

The data from the Earth flyby have already demonstrated the possibilities of this approach, according to the researchers. “During the Earth flyby, we studied the moon, characterizing MERTIS in flight for the first time under real experimental conditions. We achieved good results,” said Gisbert Peter, MERTIS project manager at the DLR Institute of Optical Sensor Systems. “Now we are pointing MERTIS towards a planet for the first time. This will allow us to make comparisons with measurements taken prior to the launch of BepiColombo, to optimize operation and data processing, and to gain experience for the design of future experiments.”

This is the first time BepiColombo has flown past Venus, but it won’t be the last. The spacecraft will make another Venus flyby in August 2021, before arriving at its destination of Mercury in 2025.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Georgina Torbet
Georgina Torbet
Space Writer
Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…
JUICE spacecraft might have to shake loose its struck antenna
The European Space Agency's JUICE spacecraft.

The European Space Agency (ESA)'s JUICE spacecraft has run into a problem following its launch two weeks ago. The spacecraft is on track on its journey to visit Jupiter's icy moons, but one of its antennae has not yet been deployed.

The JUICE spacecraft had to be folded up to fit inside the Ariane 5 rocket that launched it. Once in space, the spacecraft could begin unfolding to its full size. This began with the deploying of the spacecraft's large solar arrays, with a total of 10 panels that reach a width of 27 meters and need to be so big to pick up the faint rays of the sun all the way out at Jupiter. These panels deployed as planned immediately after launch, but a problem arose in the next phase, which involved deploying the spacecraft's antennae and booms.

Read more
See highlights of the launch of the European JUICE spacecraft
ESA’s latest interplanetary mission, Juice, lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French 09:14 local time/14:14CEST on 14 April 2023 to begin its eight-year journey to Jupiter, where it will study in detail the gas giant planet’s three large ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.

An Ariane 5 rocket carrying a spacecraft bound for Jupiter's icy moons was launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana at around 8 a.m. ET (5 a.m. PT) on Friday, April 14, in a spectacular daytime liftoff.

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft from the European Space Agency has a mass of 2.6 tonnes and is carrying nearly 4 tonnes of fuel. This will be the final launch of an ESA mission using an Ariane 5 rocket, manufactured by ArianeGroup, as the rocket will now be succeeded by the upcoming Ariane 6 which is designed to be cheaper to launch.

Read more
Venus’ volcanic activity has left it with a squishy outer shell
This illustration of the large Quetzalpetlatl Corona located in Venus’ southern hemisphere depicts active volcanism and a subduction zone, where the foreground crust plunges into the planet’s interior. A new study suggests coronae reveal locations where active geology is shaping Venus’ surface.

Venus might be our neighbor in the solar system, but there's a lot we still don't know about the planet. That's partly because of its high temperatures and atmospheric pressure which make it difficult to send probes there, and also because its thick atmosphere makes it difficult to observe from orbit. But researchers have recently dug through data from a decades-old NASA mission to learn about the strange geological processes which renew its surface.

One of the open questions about Venus is how it loses its heat, as, unlike Earth, Venus doesn't have tectonic plates. By looking at data from the Magellan mission, researchers discovered that the outer layer of Venus' surface, called the lithosphere, may be considerably thinner than previously thought and could let heat escape from the planet's hot core.

Read more