BepiColombo Launch & Cruise Phase Options

[nprev]

The adventure is about to begin! We'll discuss it here. Link to ESA coverage, launch currently slated for 20 Oct/0145 UTC.

GO BEPICOLOMBO!!!

[nprev]

30 min until ESA feed goes live.

[Bjorn Jonsson]

A very interesting followup to the Messenger mission. It's past midnight where I live but I'm finding it impossible to go to sleep until I've seen the launch...

[nprev]

Should be a fascinating mission.

T- 30 min now, feed is live!

[nprev]

GO!!!!!!!

[Bjorn Jonsson]

WOW!!!
So far so good.

[nprev]

Spacecraft separation.

Thread title edited to reflect the fact that they're on their way.

[Bjorn Jonsson]

It's alive!! Signal acquisition!

[MahFL]

It's alive!! Signal acquisition!

Awesome, missed the launch as I had to deal with a work problem.

[Explorer1]

Solar arrays deployed!
And a day later, first images from the engineering cameras! http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/20...mage_from_space

[nprev]

Antenna deployment images.

Think we're likely to see some extraordinarily cool selfies at Mercury (and perhaps during the Earth and Venus flybys as well.)

[Roby72]

Only the engineering cameras will be active during the flybys...when the enter orbit around Mercury in 2025 - this will be the beginning of science with the optical instruments.
Does anyone know the specs of the camera/lenses used with the science cameras?

[charborob]

Only the engineering cameras will be active during the flybys...when the enter orbit around Mercury in 2025 - this will be the beginning of science with the optical instruments.
Does anyone know the specs of the camera/lenses used with the science cameras?

Some information here.

[nogal]

BepiColombo continues to fare well. The magnetometer boom deployed correctly, as seen in this animated gif, and first measurements of the local magnetic field have been made.
Fernando

[nogal]

The testing of BepiColombo's four electric propulsion thrusters went well, as reported by ESA here.
This was a critical procedure that had to be executed during a window when the spacecraft was continuously in full view of the ground antennas.
The first thrust arc will begin in mid-December.
The above mentioned article also contains a short movie of BepiColombo's seven year journey to Mercury, highlighting all the gravity assist planetary encounters.

[nogal]

ESA announced that BepiColombo has initiated its first thrust arc, which will last 2 months.
The ion thrusters' maximum planed thrust for the entire journey is 250 mN, equivalent to the pull of 250 ants (!)
Fernando

[monty python]

Great news. And a cool selfie.

[nogal]

BepiColombo continues to work well. Here is an excerpt from the latest ESA release:

Following a series of tests conducted in space over the past five months, the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission has successfully completed its near-Earth commissioning phase and is now ready for the operations that will take place during the cruise and, eventually, for its scientific investigations at Mercury.

And the release: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Sc...its_long_cruise

Fernando

[MahFL]

BepiColombo continues to work well. Here is an excerpt from the latest ESA release:

And the release: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Sc...its_long_cruise

Fernando

They mentioned some ongoing issues, but did not say what they were.

[bobik]

First Light of PHEBUS on BepiColombo MPO.

[nogal]

On June 17 BepiColombo used its on-board monitoring cameras to take some selfies.Here is the ESA release link
The release includes a link to a cool tool: BepiColombo Attitude Viewer I find it requires a screen larger than that of a mobile phone.
Fernando

[nogal]

An interesting ESA article with some details about Bepi Colombo's thermal environment and challenges:
"How we heat-proofed ESA's Mercury mission"

Fernando

[bobik]

There is apparently a public dashboard of the BepiColombo Quick-Look Analysis (QLA) web interface showing, among others, ground stations pass information. If they would complement it with more functionality and at least some generic spacecraft and instrument data, e.g. power consumption, temperature readings, telemetry events, data volumes, etc., this could become a quite innovative outreach tool and fascinating way to follow the BepiColombo expedition.

[nogal]

Despite the restrictions due to the current coronavirus crisis, ESA is preparing for the April 10's BepiColombo Earth flyby.
Celestial mechanics is, of course, immune to the virus and we are already within the critical two weeks before the flyby.
Here is an ESA article on this subject: http://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Spa...onavirus_crisis

Fernando

[Explorer1]

Some very impressive images came down showing Earth's rotation as it approaches, as seen on social media. The MTM external cameras were a good idea!

[MahFL]

Some very impressive images came down showing Earth's rotation as it approaches, as seen on social media. The MTM external cameras were a good idea!

I watched the ESA flyby simulation live.

[nogal]

Esa has released a short image sequence taken by the camera on the Japanese module.
Fernando

"BepiColombo's last close-up of Earth during flyby" http://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2...th_during_flyby

[antipode]

Wow! Love this sort of 'through the rigging' stuff.

Resolution is unimportant, its the perspective that is special.

Its like a better version of Rosetta's Mars flyby.

P

[Lucas]

Here is a video from the Kryoneri Observatory in Greece, showing BepiColombo during the flyby. Wow!

You don’t need a Facebook account to see it: https://www.facebook.com/athensobservatory/...56196052386495/

[nogal]

BepiColopmbo: The Earth Flyby collection, by ESA:
http://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2...Colombo_s_flyby
Fernando

[palebutdot]

Here's another view of Earth and Moon from BepiColombo earlier during the mission (cam_raw_sc_cam3_image_20200304t233732_13_f__t0080 to cam_raw_sc_cam3_image_20200305t233453_28_f__t0100)

https://archives.esac.esa.int/psa/

Attached File(s)

 BCEM.mp4 ( 36.02K ) Number of downloads: 2154

 

[Steve G]

BepiColombo flew by Venus today and snapped this black and white shot with its instrumentation in the foreground.

https://sci.esa.int/web/bepicolombo/-/bepic...-close-approach

[Marcin600]

And flyby video , (and here )



Can anyone help me understand what this movement is (in the visible part of the probe - the Mercury Planetary Orbiter’s magnetometer boom)? Photo artifact? A play of light?

below gif's - fragments cut from the "video":

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[JRehling]

My hypothesis would be that a small part of the spacecraft is blacked out in the darkness of shadow cast by another part of the spacecraft in some frames, and seems to "appear" when it is not in shadow.

[rhr]

Or maybe a specular reflection of venus from a flat, shiny surface that's normally reflecting black? I don't really see any shadows moving near that part.

[atomoid]

Similar to the Earth flyby sequence you can see a very thin line light up that part part of the magnetometer boom when lighting is right.
Can be seen much better in this model through camera #2.

[Marcin600]

Thanks for the suggestions and insights!

Here I found photos of the magnetometer boom (in the laboratory) with the sensor in question (there are actually two such sensors) - unfortunately without the Thermal Shielding.
This rectangular (in the shape of a cube or cuboid) Thermal Shielding is visible in these drawings and probably in this photo. I'm not sure, but maybe it is made of some translucent material (?)

Anyway, since no shadows are actually moving in the Venus flyby video, it seems likely to me that the two flashes seen in the video were caused by the reflection of the Venus disc from two consecutive parallel faces of this Thermal Shielding...

[Explorer1]

A nice summary of Venus flyby 2's early results (along with near-simultaneous Solar Orbiter data)

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Spa...f_a_Venus_flyby

[Hungry4info]

Just dropping by to give this thread a little nudge ahead of the upcoming first flyby of Mercury this week on 23:34 UTC, 1 October (01:34 CEST, 2 October). Perhaps I'm not the only one for whom this flyby has kinda crept up on under the radar.

Mercury ahead!
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Spa...ercury_ahead%21

During the flybys it is not possible to take high-resolution imagery with the main science camera because it is shielded by the transfer module while the spacecraft is in cruise configuration. However, two of BepiColombo’s three monitoring cameras (MCAMs) will be taking photos from about five minutes after the time of close approach and up to four hours later. Because BepiColombo is arriving on the planet’s nightside, conditions are not ideal to take images directly at the closest approach, thus the closest image will be captured from a distance of about 1000 km.

The first image to be downlinked will be from about 30 minutes after closest approach, and is expected to be available for public release at around 08:00 CEST on Saturday morning. The close approach and subsequent images will be downlinked one by one during Saturday morning.

Even though BepiColombo is in ‘stacked’ cruise configuration for the flybys, it will be possible to operate some of the science instruments on both planetary orbiters, allowing a first taste of the planet’s magnetic, plasma and particle environment.

[TrappistPlanets]

Just dropping by to give this thread a little nudge ahead of the upcoming first flyby of Mercury this week on 23:34 UTC, 1 October (01:34 CEST, 2 October). Perhaps I'm not the only one for whom this flyby has kinda crept up on under the radar.

Mercury ahead!
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Spa...ercury_ahead%21

yeah... i didn't know about it today, until Antdoghalo said something on one of my servers on discord about it
it certainly did creep up under the radar for me too

[JRehling]

We have over four years to get ready for BC's actual science operations; this is a useful reminder of what it is that we have to look forward to.

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006epsc.......81L/abstract

At global resolution, Messenger has given us a complete map of Mercury that leaves little to improve upon. However, BepiColombo will nonetheless perform a great deal of original science.

[Hungry4info]

Hello Mercury

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[TrappistPlanets]

Hello Mercury

why is only a chunk of mercury seen in each frame and not the whole planet?

[JRehling]

The answer to that is in post #39.

[titanicrivers]

The complete article from today referenced earlier by Hungry4info can be found here https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Spa...iews_of_Mercury

[brellis]

Astounding how precisely successful this maneuver appears! Question: how close did the actual flyby match the calculations in terms of effect on the spacecraft's speed and course? Or was there a ballpark/range predicted based on how precisely we know Mercury's mass and orbit?

[Phil Stooke]

JRehling: "At global resolution, Messenger has given us a complete map of Mercury that leaves little to improve upon. However, BepiColombo will nonetheless perform a great deal of original science"

Messenger certainly gave excellent results, but there is much that can be improved on. Messenger had an orbit which gave low passes over the north pole and high passes over the south, so imaging and all datasets were better in the north than in the south. As an example, the laser altimeter was unable to collect data over much of the southern hemisphere, so the global topo map is less accurate in the south where only stereoscopic imaging is available (stereo gives great detail but it needs altimetry to determine the location in space of the stereo model). BepiColombo will improve on many of Messenger;s datasets in the south. And the high resolution imager will greatly extend the limited high resolution mapping by Messenger.

Phil

[bobik]

JAXA's flyby webcast and ESA Operations tweets reminded me how cool it would have been if we had got, among others, real-time temperature readings through ESA's BepiColombo Quick-Look Analysis web interface during the flyby, but alas!

[TrappistPlanets]

JRehling: "At global resolution, Messenger has given us a complete map of Mercury that leaves little to improve upon. However, BepiColombo will nonetheless perform a great deal of original science"

Messenger certainly gave excellent results, but there is much that can be improved on. Messenger had an orbit which gave low passes over the north pole and high passes over the south, so imaging and all datasets were better in the north than in the south. As an example, the laser altimeter was unable to collect data over much of the southern hemisphere, so the global topo map is less accurate in the south where only stereoscopic imaging is available (stereo gives great detail but it needs altimetry to determine the location in space of the stereo model). BepiColombo will improve on many of Messenger;s datasets in the south. And the high resolution imager will greatly extend the limited high resolution mapping by Messenger.

Phil

did any of the images from the flyby image the south at all?

[JRehling]

did any of the images from the flyby image the south at all?

Not better than this:
https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/map/Me...aic_Global_166m

[Explorer1]

Video including some more distant departure views (overexposed, but still neat!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdOLeGeqAEI

[bobik]

It seems BepiColombo experienced a Safe Mode event sometimes during Christmas holidays between 23.12.2021 and 05.01.2022 (no pass was scheduled during this period). So far all we know is that a "Safe Mode recovery extra pass" was requested on 05.01 and carried out on 07.01.2022.

[Explorer1]

Nothing new on their social media, either. Must have been very minor.

[bobik]

Nothing new on their social media...

Not too surprising, ESA so far has shown no intention to provide the general public with timely updates on BepiColombo spacecraft operations and status, besides PR coverage of flybys. Having said that, in this article summing up the first 2.5 years (until May 2021) of flight operations we learn that up to this point, BepiColombo experienced only three unplanned safe modes, all in the first few months of the expedition, so at least in this regard a safe mode would be a notable event.

[bobik]

BepiColombo is going to enter superior solar conjunction (SSC), and so starts the second observation session for the BepiColombo Solar Conjunction Experiment (SCE) to test General Relativity (GR).

[bobik]

A strange dark streak with greyish "halo" appeared on BepiColombo's High-Gain Antenna (HGA). Unfortunately, the front side of the HGA is rarely imaged by the MCAM3 monitoring camera. In an image taken on 09 Aug 2019 and earlier images everything is fine; then, however, in an oblique view taken on 18 Oct 2020 a dark spot can be seen tentatively at the edge of the HGA dish, the same spot and entire streak is clearly visible on the next image taken on 07 Apr 2021. The dark streak together with the greyish background doesn't seem to change over time when comparing with the most recent available image taken on 09 Dec 2021. Because of thermal control reasons great care was taken in the development and testing of the NV14 ceramic white coating of the HGA and thus coating deterioration by contamination/irradiation processes is unlikely, I think.

[nogal]

A strange dark streak with greyish "halo" ...

This is an interesting information. Can you please check what is causing the error

"https://archives.esac.esa.int/psa/APP/connector/0/4291/url/cam_raw_sc_cam3_browse_20210809t223002_61_f__t0005.jpeg" cannot be displayed because it contains errors."

in all but the third link? Thanks.
Fernando

[bobik]

... cannot be displayed because it contains errors.

OK, that's funny?!?! The image links have changed and will probably keep changing (very useful). Please, try this direct link to the MCAM instrument archive and search with the image identifiers, e.g. 20210809t223002_61_f__t0005. Below I have attached the most crucial images taken on 2021-12-09, 2021-08-09, 2020-10-18, 2021-04-07 and for better comparison an additional image from 2019-05-14 respectively.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[StargazeInWonder]

Perhaps a coincidence, but the streak has a similar size and shape (but not location) to the shadow that some of the antenna gear is casting in some of those photos.

[nogal]

Thanks for the tip.
I found it best to set the number of images per page to a high number(500?) and search for just this part of the image label "20210809t223002_61_f__t0005".

Fernando

[bobik]

I found it best to set the number of images per page to a high number ...

Yes indeed, the PSA search-filter (in the upper right corner) works only for the loaded "Items/page" (dropdown button in the bottom right corner) and the product identifiers have an "_image_" where the linked preview image identifiers have a "_browse_", thus only the second part of the identifier should be used.

[bobik]

On 2022-03-02 an extended photo session was undertaken, apparently to investigate the dark streak on the HGA. Hopefully, this streak will have no adverse effect on the thermal behavior of the HGA and consequently data rate and throughput during Mercury orbit phase. As far as I know, as expected, ESA has not commented on this issue so far.

[bobik]

Interesting presentation (among many others) about the upcoming second Mercury Flyby (MSB2) at the current Mercury 2022 conference in Orléans.

By the way, although the spacecraft is said to be in good condition it has surfaced that one of two Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) has thermal problems due to a malfunctioning heat pipe: "at the moment the problem is under control ... some investigation why the heat pipe is blocked and how to get it free ... a bit optimistic ..."

[bobik]

Quite extraordinary, even though only a very brief glimpse into the monthly operations of the BepiColombo spacecraft (with some info about the IMU issue, btw). I don't understand what's behind this website, is it broken, experimental or a mistake!? Anyway, this is exactly how it should be done; brief, regular, informative updates on spacecraft status and operations! Is that really too much to ask for?

[nogal]

BepiColombo's second (of six) Mercury flybys to occur on June 23 on 9:44 UT.
The closest distance will be 200km, with some science data being recoded and images captured by the "selfie-cameras". Images are planned to be available on June 27.
Flyby description with all the above information, flyby animation, and more is available in the ESA article: BepiColombo lines up for second Mercury flyby
Fernando

EDIT: Fixed a problem with the link. My thanks to MahFL for pointing it out to me.

[Explorer1]

Here we go, a few days early!
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2...ology_annotated

[JTN]

A few more pictures in the report Second helpings of Mercury. "All MCAM images will be publicly available in the Planetary Science Archive next week."

(In the released MCAM3 image, the HGA is turned away as usual, so we can't see how filthy it's gotten. I assume still no public news about that.)

[bobik]

According to information in ESA's fantastic, but criminally underused for public outreach BepiColombo Quick-Look Analysis (QLA) tool, the third Solar Conjunction Experiment (SCE#3) (apparently) ends today.

[bobik]

New sequence of images of the front side of the HGA taken on 2022-09-05. It's almost the perfect retake of the sequence taken on 2022-03-02. No obvious changes are visible in comparison to earlier images. The dark streak shows intriguing fine features of genuine bright dots and lines. I am wondering if the dark streak is the product of a one-time event, like a micrometeoroid impact.

[bobik]

Today ends Payload Checkout #8. Next follows Platform Checkout #8, CSW 3.3.5 (Central Software) update, and SEPS#14 (Solar Electric Propulsion Subsystem) thrusting maneuver throughout December.

[bobik]

ESTRACKnow data indicates some unspecified problems with BepiColombo starting with 5 December. On 8 December, today's planned DDOR pass was replaced by a TTC pass and for tomorrow (14 December) a so-called "BEPI SM* recovery" was scheduled, according to information available through the BepiColombo Quick-Look Analysis (QLA) tool. ESTRACKnow statistics also suggest unscheduled communication passes on 9 and 10 December. EDIT: Whatever the current status of BepiColombo, it seemingly does not interfere with the operation of the monitoring cameras.

* BTW, SM probably means Safe Mode.

[bobik]

According to public available information at the first day of Platform Checkout#9, because of unknown reasons, no contact could be established with BepiColombo on 2023-05-15. On the following days it seems all worked according to plan again.

[nogal]

BepiColombo is making it's next flyby of Mercury on Monday, June 19th.
According to ESA, several images will be taken by the monitoring cameras, with a first release of the images on June 20th.

Here is the link to the full article:
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Spa...d_Mercury_flyby

Fernando

[nogal]

Here is the first image (from yesterday, June 19) still inbound and 121000 Km away:



The horizontal stripe is an artifact. More images are promised for later today.

Fernando

[Quetzalcoatl]

Bonsoir,

Link to the other images in this third flyby :

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Spa...d_Mercury_flyby

[bobik]

The 5th Solar Conjunction Experiment (SCE#5) begins today, for which solely Estrack's specially equipped Malargüe station will be used for the next 14 days.

[nogal]

And here is a flyby movie which also includes a reconstructed 3D view of a special interest area.
Link
Fernando

[bobik]

Pre-3rd-flyby presentation about the Shape-from-Shading (SFS) technique in the context of BepiColombo and the scientific utilization of the MCAM images in general.

[bobik]

The SpaceOps-2023 paper on BepiColombo flight operations is finally available, among others, it contains the first public, detailed account of two safe mode events which, by the way, were already noticed in this thread (see #52 and #71) and also some interesting statistics of in-flight anomalies.

[bobik]

During the end of January the front side of the HGA once again came into view of MCAM3. No major changes are apparent. I wonder when official thoughts on anomaly BC_SC-186 will transpire.


One frame per day, 21-01-2024 to 01-02-2024

[bobik]

According to the public dashboard of the BepiColombo Quick-Look Analysis (QLA) tool, a Safe Mode Recovery pass was requested on 2024-04-04, the second day of Platform Checkout #11, and performed on 2024-04-07, respectively. Two additional Safe Mode Recovery passes are scheduled for 2024-04-19 and 2024-04-20. I can't wait for SpaceOps2025 to get some information what is going on...!

[Hungry4info]

Glitch on BepiColombo: work ongoing to restore spacecraft to full thrust
https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operat..._to_full_thrust

The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury has experienced a technical issue that is preventing its thrusters from operating at full power. Top spaceflight experts from ESA and its partners are working the problem, but the long-term impact on the mission is uncertain.

on 26 April, as BepiColombo was scheduled to begin its next manoeuvre, the Transfer Module failed to deliver enough electrical power to the spacecraft’s thrusters.

A combined team from ESA and the mission’s industrial partners set to work the moment the issue was identified. By 7 May, they had restored BepiColombo’s thrust to approximately 90% of its previous level. However, the Transfer Module’s available power is still lower than it should be, and so full thrust cannot yet be restored.