The European Space Agency's science policy committee is expected to give the go-ahead next week for the €865 million ($1.11 billion) joint ESA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) BepiColombo mission to Mercury.
The approval will officially start BepiColombo, which will be the third Mercury probe following two NASA missions: the 1974 Mariner 10 and the Discovery mission, Messenger, launched in 2004 and arriving in 2011.
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The second probe is due to launch in 2013 |
The 2,300kg (5,000lb) BepiColombo spacecraft consists of an electric propulsion module and two orbiters with a rocket engine. To be launched by a Starsem Soyuz 2-1b from Kourou, French Guiana in 2013, it will be the second such science mission launched by a Soyuz from Europe's spaceport.
BepiColombo will arrive at Mercury in 2019 for a 12-month mission to study the planet's interior, vestigal atmosphere and magnetic field. The cost to ESA will be €665 million, while "the [member states'] agencies will invest about €200 million forthe [11] instruments and are signing a multilateral agreement with ESAto provide [them]. The biggest contributor to the payload is Italy with 30%," says ESA's science directorate's head of science projects Jacques Louet.
The ESA industrial contract for the spacecraft is €329 million, with the UK getting the largest share at 25% and Germany and Italy in joint second place at 20% each.
Source: Flight International
