BepiColombo faces 11-month delay on journey to Mercury

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By Dennis Normile, Science. 

Excerpt: The BepiColombo mission is now scheduled to arrive at the tiny and little-studied planet in November 2026, 11 months behind schedule. The European Space Agency (ESA), which developed the $1.8 billion BepiColombo in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), said in a 2 September statement that the mission's scientific objectives will not be affected by the delay. Meanwhile, the revised trajectory has the craft passing 165 kilometers from Mercury's surface on 4 September during a gravity assist flyby. The encounter, 35 kilometers closer than originally planned, provides an opportunity to test instruments and study the interaction between the solar wind and the planet's magnetic field. Scientists are planning to make the most of the flyby, starting up 10 of the mission's 16 instruments. ...Launched in October 2018, BepiColombo is carrying two probes, ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter, with 11 instruments, and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetosphere Orbiter, with five. The two spacecraft are stacked aboard the mission's transfer module for the trip to our Solar System's smallest planet. Upon arrival, they will detach and enter separate orbits. BepiColombo has so far completed one flyby at Earth, two at Venus, and three at Mercury.... 

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