Image recorded by the BepiColombo objective on August 10, 2021, as the spacecraft passed Venus. Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
The joint European-Japanese BepiColombo objective recorded this view of Venus on August 10, 2021, as the spacecraft passed the world for a gravity help maneuver.
The image was taken at 13: 57: 56 UTC by the Mercury Transfer Module’s Monitoring Camera 3, when the spacecraft was 1573 km from Venus. Closest method of 552 km occurred quickly previously, at 13: 51: 54 UTC.
The video cameras supply black-and-white photos in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution. The image has actually been gently processed to improve contrast and utilize the complete vibrant variety. A percentage of optical vignetting is seen in the bottom left of the image.
The high-gain antenna of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and part of the body of the spacecraft show up in front of Venus, at leading left.
The maneuver, the 2nd at Venus and the 3rd of 9 flybys in general, assisted guide the spacecraft on course for Mercury. During its seven-year cruise to the tiniest and inner world of the Solar System, BepiColombo makes one flyby at Earth, 2 at Venus and 6 at Mercury to brake versus the gravitational pull of the Sun in order to go into orbit around Mercury. Its very first Mercury flyby will happen October 1-2, 2021.
BepiColombo, which makes up ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is arranged to reach its target orbit around the tiniest and inner world of the Solar System in 2025.
