On October 20, 2018 at 01:45 UTC the “Ariane-5” rocket-carrier was launched from Kourou Cosmodrome in French Guiana. The rocket boosted a pair of satellites into space for a seven-year plunge into the inner solar system. The voyage will require seven planetary flybys to slow down enough in the sun’s gravitational clutches to slip into orbit around hellish Mercury. The “BepiColombo” mission consists of 2 orbital space vehicles: Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO, Mio) and Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO). Attachments: |