As the MTI writes, the event occurred at 23:34 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) 200 kilometers above the planet’s surface. Europe’s first Mercury mission arrived at its destination, but also its shortest visit. BepiColombo moves too fast to orbit the planet and fly straight past it. However, under the influence of the gravitational force of Mercury, it will slow down somewhat and, as a result of passages in the coming years, will set in a stable orbit around the planet over time. This will happen at the end of 2025 – quotes the communication in 24.hu.
The probe arriving at Mercury split in two: a part called Bepi orbited a low orbit around the planet, and a part called Milo, made at the Japan Space Agency, was collecting data from a greater distance from the planet. ESA’s € 1.3 billion space probe is carrying out an extraordinary mission. Mercury has an extreme temperature, the sun is very attractive and the sun’s rays create hellish conditions. Both probes are designed to withstand the temperature of 430 degrees Celsius, which is typical of the sunny side of the planet, and also the cold of minus 180 degrees Celsius, the shady side of Mercury.
As the two-part structure is currently hampering the operation of high-resolution main cameras, the first shots will be taken by engineering cameras on the outside of the probe. The resulting black and white images will be of sufficient quality for experts to recognize some of the known surface formations on them.
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