The BepiColombo mission consists primarily of two orbiters: the European MPO and the Japanese MMO. Their objectives are different but they share a common goal: to help us learn more about the planet closest to the Sun, Mercury. This mission has diverse objectives across various themes: Planet formation and evolution: Determine how Mercury formed to…
Mercury. The planet closest to the Sun. It remains highly mysterious to us. Only two space probes have explored it: Mariner 10, which flew by three times in 1974-75, and then MESSENGER, which orbited the planet’s poles from 2011 to 2015. Both missions were highly innovative and represented pioneers in space exploration. Unfortunately, neither fully…
Did you know that Japan also sends spacecraft to the International Space Station? Yes, the H-II Transfer Vehicle, or HTV, is a Japanese cargo spacecraft, and the seventh in the family was launched on September 22, 2018 (at 19:52 CEST)! In addition to being the largest current spacecraft to dock with the ISS, it is…