At the time of the photo, the spacecraft was about 17,000 kilometers from Venus.
ESA’s BepiColombo is currently on its way to the innermost planet in our solar system: Mercury. However, to get there well and well, some so-called ‘gravity pendulums’ are needed. And planet Venus is also in the plot. Today BepiColombo passed our nearest neighbor. And while the speed and course of the probe – under the influence of Venus’ gravitational field – was changed, BepiColombo also took some nice pictures.
Venus
Although the probe is designed to reveal Mercury’s myriad secrets, many are still looking with increased interest at the planet that will approach BepiColombo twice along the way: Venus. Because after it became known last month that in the atmosphere of Venus is possible traces of life have been discovered – in the form of the gas phosphine – the planet has come to be seen in a completely different light. Where Venus was first seen as the red-hot and inhospitable sister of the earth, the impression has now been given that life may still be possible a little higher in the atmosphere. And the fact that a space probe flies by at a short distance just a month later seems like a gift.
Photo
The image below shows the first photo from the tube of BepiColombo in all its glory. The photo was taken early this morning, at 05:37 CET, with the Monitoring Camera 2 of the Mercury Transfer Module. At the time of the photo, BepiColombo was within 17,000 kilometers of Venus. Half an hour later, at 5:58 AM, BepiColombo came closest to Venus.
Image: ESA / BepiColombo / MTM
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The antenna of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter is visible at the top of the photo. On the right you see the magnetometer that BepiColombo is equipped with. Behind it, planet Venus shows off. The cameras deliver black and white photos with an image resolution of 1024 x 1024. The image has been lightly edited to improve brightness and contrast.
Razor flight
During the flyby of Venus, several instruments on board Venus were activated to learn more about the planet. For example, our nearest neighbor is observed with the spectrometers MERTIS and PHEBUS. “MERTIS will study the day side of Venus almost continuously during the 55 hours prior to the flyby, specifically targeting the middle part of Venus’ atmosphere and cloud cover,” said Johannes Benkhoff, scientist at BepiColombo, previously to Scientias.nl. “The observations will contribute to the study of Venus’ radiation balance (how much solar radiation enters the atmosphere and how much radiation is released again, ed.), The structure of the atmosphere, the chemical processes in the cloud cover and the influence of large atmospheric waves. on the weather patterns. ” Meanwhile, PHEBUS is deployed during the flyby to investigate the atmosphere on the night side of Venus. Among other things, the instrument should provide insight into the structure of the atmosphere at an altitude of 80 to 200 kilometers.
BepiColombo’s Mission
BepiColombo is on quite a long journey. But both the European and Japanese space agencies like to make some effort to study Mercury up close. The inner planet of our solar system still has many secrets. And BepiColombo has to unravel it. As soon as it arrives at Mercury, the probe will release two orbiters that will orbit the planet. The mission must reveal, among other things, how Mercury came into existence, which geological processes occur on the planet and how the planet exactly works.
In total BepiColombo will perform nine flying flights. Today’s flyby is the second of nine and the first past Venus to set the vehicle on course to its final destination, Mercury. BepiColombo completed the first shaving flight – past our own earth al in april. In August 2021, the probe will approach Venus again. Between 2021 and 2025 another six fly-overs will take place, this time past the planet Mercury. By December 2025, BepiColombo will be ready – if everything goes according to plan – to settle in orbit around Mercury.
It means that BepiColombo does not have to say goodbye to Venus just yet. Because next year the probe will treat our nearest neighbor to another visit. Then the probe will approach Venus a little closer, this time skimming the planet just 551 kilometers away. And also during this second flyby, instruments will be aimed at Venus that will hopefully yield a lot of new information. And this may also shed more light on the potential traces of life in Venus’ atmosphere.
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