News Release

Europe's Mercury mission swings into action

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Science and Technology Facilities Council

The European Space Agency (ESA) signalled the start of a busy period for the planet Mercury, when it signed the contract for industrial development to start for the BepiColombo mission today (18th January 2008) at Astrium in Friedrichshafen, Germany. UK scientists and industry have key roles in BepiColombo, including construction of spacecraft subsystems and science instrument design.

BepiColombo, a mission to make the most comprehensive study of Mercury ever, is due for launch in August 2013. It is the first dual mission to Mercury, with one European spacecraft and one provided from Japan. The programme is carried out as a joint mission under ESA leadership with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Professor Keith Mason, Chief Executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council which funds UK space science said “BepiColombo will make the most detailed study of Mercury ever, revealing the secrets of the planet closest to the Sun – what it is formed of, how the Sun affects it and what we can learn about the other planets by comparison. It is technically challenging to send a probe to Mercury due to the extreme heat conditions, high levels of radiation and the strong gravitational pull of the Sun. A mission of this complexity reveals the ingenuity of our scientists and engineers.”

BepiColombo consists of two spacecraft. One spacecraft, ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), will carry 11 instruments to study the surface and internal composition of the planet with unprecedented accuracy, using different wavelengths and investigation techniques.

The second spacecraft, JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), will carry five instruments to study the planet’s magnetosphere, the region of space around the planet that is dominated by its magnetic field.

Professor George Fraser of the University of Leicester Space Research Centre is leading a research team from five countries to build the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (MIXS) which will fly on the MPO craft. He said “MIXS will look at the x-rays coming from the planet Mercury to study the composition of the surface, helping us to test models of the planet’s formation. X-ray remote sensing has told us a great deal about the Moon and the asteroids, but MIXS will be the first true x-ray imaging telescope to be used in planetary science.”

Dr David Rothery of the Open University, who is the UK Lead Scientist for MIXS and Co-Chairman of ESA's Mercury Surface and Composition Working Group, said: “The preliminary close-up images from NASA's MESSENGER flyby of Mercury this week offer tantalising indications of a complex history of lava flows partly burying the planet's more ancient primitive crust. The high spatial resolution achievable by MIXS will be vital in order to distinguish the compositions of these two very different types of crust, which is essential if we are to unravel the mysteries of Mercury's origin and evolution.”

Magna Parva, a specialist firm from Loughborough are developing, the mechanical structure for the MIXS telescope with the University of Leicester Space Research Centre. The MIXS Optics structure is an extremely challenging mechanical engineering project that involves working alongside Prof. Fraser and his team to ensure that the science objectives of the MIXS instrument are met. The decision to involve a small, relatively unknown, flexible company in the MIXS project has brought an innovative approach to instrument design and may provide a model for UK space science projects in the future

A vital sister instrument to MIXS is the Solar Intensity X-ray Spectrometer (SIXS), led from Finland, which will measure the x-rays and particles from the Sun that trigger the fluorescence on Mercury’s surface.

Engineers at STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory are working on integrated circuits for reading out signals from the detectors of the SIXS instrument. These have been manufactured and testing will begin shortly. On behalf of ESA, the prime contractor Astrium will lead a network of subcontractors to design and build ESA’s MPO spacecraft and the so-called Mercury Transfer Module - that is the module to carry the MPO-MMO composite spacecraft to its destination. Astrium in the UK is responsible for the structure of the entire spacecraft including the launch vehicle adapter, the complex mission analysis that will require numerous swing-bys of the Earth, the moon, and Venus in its six year flight plan, and also the two chemical propulsion systems and the ion propulsion system.

An additional difficulty is that reaching Mercury and then entering into orbit requires a large amount of energy to brake against the Sun’s gravity. To achieve this, the cruise and the orbit insertion phases will primarily rely on solar-electric propulsion (as tested on ESA’s Smart-1 mission to the Moon), complemented by several planetary gravity-assist manoeuvres and conventional (chemical) propulsion. “Mercury is the planet closest the Sun, making it hard to get to and so it is a technical challenge by anyone’s measure,” said Prof. David Southwood, ESA’s Director of Science. “However Mercury has also regularly confounded planetary scientists with its exceptional properties and that makes it a grand scientific challenge.”

###

Note for editors

Link to ESA web release and factsheet (with instrument details)
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM7UR3MDAF_index_0.html

Artist’s impressions of BepiColombo are available, Credit ESA
See http://www.scitech.ac.uk/PMC/PRel/STFC/bepicol.aspx

The cost of BepiColombo to ESA is 665 million Euros, including the launch and the operations up to 2020. The contract to Astrium is for 350.9 million Euros. The cost of the MPO instruments, funded by European institutes, is over 200 million Euros.

Astrium’s subcontracting companies include: the Italian branch of Thales Alenia Space Italy, which will be the co-prime contractor for the development of the MPO’s electrical power, thermal control and communications systems and for the integration and test activities; EADS Astrium Ltd (UK), co-prime contractor for the electrical and chemical propulsion system as well as for the complete composite spacecraft structure and EADS Astrium (France), which will develop the on-board software.

BepiColombo will be launched from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on board a Soyuz-Fregat 2-1B rocket provided through Arianespace.

For more information

Julia Maddock
STFC Press Office
Tel 01793 442094
Julia.maddock@stfc.ac.uk

Professor George Fraser
University of Leicester
Email gwf@star.le.ac.uk
Tel 0116 252 3491

Dr David Rothery
The Open University
Tel 07986 260258
Email d.a.rothery@open.ac.uk

Mark Prydderch
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
M.L.Prydderch@rl.ac.uk

Jeremy Close
Astrium UK
Tel 01438 773872
Email jeremy.close@astrium.eads.net

Andrew Bowyer
Andrew Bowyer
Magna Parva Ltd
Loughborough Innovation Centre
Tel: +44 (0)1509 225824
Mob: +44 (0)7917 055076
Email andy.bowyer@magnaparva.com

Jan van Casteren, ESA BepiColombo Project Manager
Email: Jan.van.Casteren@esa.int

Johannes Benkhoff, ESA BepiColombo Project Scientist
Email: Johannes.benkhoff@esa.int
Science and Technology Facilities Council

The Science and Technology Facilities Council ensures the UK retains its leading place on the world stage by delivering world-class science; accessing and hosting international facilities; developing innovative technologies; and increasing the socio-economic impact of its research through effective knowledge exchange partnerships.

The Council has a broad science portfolio including Astronomy, Particle Physics, Particle Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics, Space Science, Synchrotron Radiation, Neutron Sources and High Power Lasers. In addition the Council manages and operates three internationally renowned laboratories:

  • The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire
  • The Daresbury Laboratory, Cheshire
  • The UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Edinburgh

The Council gives researchers access to world-class facilities and funds the UK membership of international bodies such as the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), the Institute Laue Langevin (ILL), European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), the European organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) and the European Space Agency (ESA). It also contributes money for the UK telescopes overseas on La Palma, Hawaii, Australia and in Chile, and the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility, which includes the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory. The Council distributes public money from the Government to support scientific research. Between 2007 and 2008 we will invest approximately £678 million.

The Council is a partner in the UK space programme, coordinated by the British National Space Centre.


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.