Launch Success
Liftoff Time (GMT)
01:45:28
Saturday October 20, 2018
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Flight VA245. First European mission to Mercury.
BepiColombo is a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to the planet Mercury. The mission comprises two satellites to be launched together: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Mio (Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, MMO). The mission will perform a comprehensive study of Mercury, including its magnetic field, magnetosphere, interior structure, and surface. It is scheduled for arrival at Mercury in December 2025, after a flyby of Earth, two flybys of Venus, and six flybys of Mercury. The mission was approved in November 2009, after years of proposal and planning as part of the European Space Agency's Horizon 2000+ program; it will be the last mission of the program to be launched.
Heliocentric Orbit
1 Payload
4,241 kilograms
Manufacturer
ESAPrice
$200.00 million
Rocket
Diameter: 5.4m
Height: 53m
Payload to Orbit
LEO: 21,000 kg
GTO: 10,500 kg
Liftoff Thrust
15,120 Kilonewtons
Fairing
Diameter: 5.4m
Height: 17m
Stages
2
Strap-ons
2
101st
Mission
5th
Mission of 2018
262nd
Mission
7th
Mission of 2018
81st
Orbital launch attempt