Nach acht Jahren befindet sich Europas BepiColombo-Mission im Endanflug auf Merkur: „Grundsätzlich wollen wir etwas über die Entstehung dieses Planeten erfahren und darüber, wie er entstanden ist, wie er ist.“
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/09/after-8-years-europes-bepicolombo-mission-is-on-final-approach-to-mercury/
3 Kommentare
I wish the public got as excited about space stuff as I (and other people in this sub) do. What they’re trying to do here is near impossible, yet some influencer on tiktok gets more attention. Annoys me lol.
That’s insane. The skill they developed from the gravity assists was probably worth it alone.
Following BepiColombo closely after having helped navigate MESSENGER into the first ever Mercury orbit for a spacecraft almost 20 years ago now. MESSENGER took six years in cruise to get there, with six planetary flybys along the way, followed by over four years in orbit. The original plan was to orbit Mercury for one year but we saved so much fuel by solar sailing our way there that we more than quadrupled our orbital stay with two mission extensions. Eagerly anticipating the chance to watch BepiColumbo follow in our footsteps, go BC!