Status Report of BepiColombo MPO

BepiColombo: ESA – JAXA mission to explore Mercury

Status Report of BepiColombo MPOStatus Report of BepiColombo MPO

Harri Laakso and Johannes BenkhoffESA/ESTECNoordwijk, The Netherlands

SERENA Team Meeting, 24-27 August 201011 / 14

Noordwijk, The Netherlands

BepiColombo - dual spacecraft missionMercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO)• 3-axis stabilized spacecraft on

polar orbit optimized for study of the planet itself

• 400x1500 km• 400x1500 km• 2.3 hr period

Mercury MagnetosphericOrbiter (MMO)• Spin-stabilized spacecraft on polar

orbit optimized for study of the magnetosphere

• 400x12000 km

SERENA Team Meeting, 24-27 August 20102

• 400x12000 km• 9.2 hr period

• avoid exact 1:4 synchronisation of MPO/MMO for science reasons

� Launch: 19 July 2014 on Ariane 5� 6.3 year cruise to Mercury by electric


Rocket: Ariane 5 ECATotal Launch mass: 4200 Kg

� 6.3 year cruise to Mercury by electric propulsion

� Earth, 2 Venus, 4 Mercury flybys/gravity assists

Arrival at Mercury

� Arrival in November 2020

� Gravity capture into Mercury orbit � chemical propulsion

� Final Mercury orbit adjustment� Final Mercury orbit adjustment

� Injection of the MPO and MMO into their respective orbits

� Start of science mission: Feb 2021

� Prime mission through Feb 2022� Extended mission through Feb 2023


Project Schedule


� TOP PRIORITY: To keep the schedule for launch in 2014� Hardware procurement ongoing in support of STM and ETB

integration in 2010� Schedule margins for P/L are decreasing

BepiColombo Status

� Schedule margins for P/L are decreasing� STM delivery due 1 Sep 2010

• all compatible (with adjusted dates)

� EM delivery due 1 Aug 2010

• one instrument compatible with this; the rest marginal or non-compliant

� EM campaigns close to STM activities – manpower issues


� FM delivery due 26 Jan 2012

• all P/L marginal; few already known non-compliant

STM/EM AIV ActivitiesMPO mock-up

� MPO Mock-up ready for AIT

� Instrument support required for EM AIV

� The initial setup comprises:

� MPO P/L (one at a time)MPO P/L (one at a time)

� OBC, SSMM, MPO-RIU

� POWER FE (instead of PCDU)

� See parts 12 and 16 in EID-C for the

format/content of

test procedures

� Both STM and EM


� Both STM and EM

integrations start

in Sept 2010

� Instrument I/F temperatures � out of specification temperature for some instruments at perihelion;

e.g. Strofio by 6ºC at PH

� Particle contamination from MLI

BepiColombo Payload Issues

� Particle contamination from MLI� Power

� 140/180 Watts to operate all payload cannot be guarantee at all times

within a Mercury Orbit

� Perihelion power problems reported earlier may have disappeared,

details to be presented in SWT (Graz)

� Data Downlink baseline 1550 Gbits/year


� Data Downlink baseline 1550 Gbits/year� Note: D/L needs power (another ground station would increase D/L, but

would require twice as much power, and if limited power available, …)

Science Activity Timeline

45

135

BC#2 – night to day terminator

(20 days)

Flip-over Flip-over

BC#1 – perihelion

(16 days)

Eclipses start 2 days

before this season and

end 2 days after

BC#3 – aphelion

(32 days)

• Eclipses occur

during all of this

season (max 42

min)

Flip-over Flip-over


225315

BC#4 – day to night terminator

(20 days)

• Flip-over (~30 min)

in eclipse

Science profile / downlink / SSMM

297.9414

16

18

300

350

400

Sciene data profile DL capabilityPeripelion AphelionStart science @ 19.02.2021 SSMM nominal operationSSMM 10d non coverage

D/L Capability and SSMM Usage

Best D/L rates

2

4

6

8

10

12

Gb

it p

er d

ay

50

100

150

200

250

Dat

a in

SS

MM

(G

bit

s)


0

2

01.0

1.20

21

02.0

4.20

21

02.0

7.20

21

01.1

0.20

21

01.0

1.20

22

02.0

4.20

22

0

50

� collect instrument operation information from the teams � build up a database of all payload operations and measurements

we plan to perform

MPO Science Operations Activities

� based on these information, the following activities done by the SGS� science activity plan� baseline analysis (study various operational cases in order to

deal with operational constrains or reduced resources)� defining a planning concept� defining a data handling and archiving concept


� defining a data handling and archiving concept

BC-MESSENGER Joint Activities

� Standing invitations to team meetings

� BC: Sendai ‘08, Blois ‘09, Seggau Castle ‘10

� MESSENGER: Boulder ‘08; Providence ‘09, Columbia ‘09, Cambridge ‘10� MESSENGER: Boulder ‘08; Providence ‘09, Columbia ‘09, Cambridge ‘10

� BC-MESSENGER Workshops (annual/biannual)

� 1st workshop on “The surface composition of Mercury from UV-Vis-IR”, University of Parma, Italy, 3-5 June 2009

� 2nd workshop on “Exploring Magnetosphere-Exosphere Coupling at Mercury”, Boulder, USA, 2-5 Nov 2010

� Co-Organize Mercury sessions at major science conferences:

� EUROPLANET, COSPAR, EGU, AGU


� EUROPLANET, COSPAR, EGU, AGU

Summary

�BepiColombo spacecraft development on track and on schedule for a launch in 2014

�First hardware has been build and will be tested after summer �First hardware has been build and will be tested after summer 2010

�Science Operations Concept under development


Status Report of BepiColombo MPO

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