European Space Agency to Launch Joint Mission to Mercury with Japanese Space Agency Updated with Images and Video of Launch

Artist's depiction of the BepiColombo mission, with the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (left) and Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (right)

**UPDATE** The launch was successful. Images and video have been added to the end of the article.

The BepiCoombo space probe will be launched from French Guiana in South America at 9:45 pm tonight. It is a joint mission of the European and Japanese Space Agencies to send a pair of probes to Mercury. After a few gravity assists, the probes are expected to reach Mercury on December 5, 2025.


Live video players are embedded below so you can watch the launch live. They will be replaced with recorded videos after the launch. More information about the mission has been posted below the video players.



ESA Webcast





Ariane Space Webcast





BepiColombo is named after Giuseppe "Bepi" Colombo (1920–1984), a scientist, mathematician, and engineer at the University of Padua, Italy, who first implemented the interplanetary gravity-assist maneuver during the 1974 Mariner 10 mission, a technique now commonly used by planetary probes.

The mission involves three components, which will separate into independent spacecraft upon arrival at Mercury.

•Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) for propulsion, built by ESA
•Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) built by ESA
•Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio) built by JAXA

During launch and cruise phase, these three components will be joined together to form the Mercury Cruise System (MCS).

Source: Wikipedia [LINK]

ESA Website: [LINK]


**UPDATE** Images and video of the launch have been added below:

A couple of images from Kazuhito Kidachi

And screenshots from the webcast:

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Published at 9:00 pm on October 19, 2018