Category: Science

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A sequence of daily images of Earth taken by the BepiColombo spacecraft as it moved away from our planet after its flyby, in the period between 13 April and 5 May 2020.

Listen to the sound of BepiColombo’s Earth flyby as captured in five recordings taken by two instruments aboard the Mercury Planetary Orbiter, one of the two orbiters comprising the joint European/Japanese Mercury exploration mission.

In early April, as the European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft was approaching our home planet ahead of the first flyby in its seven-year journey to Mercury, mission scientists invited amateur astronomers to observe the event from Earth and share their photos of this unique event.

ESA’s upcoming JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft arrives at the satellite integration centre of the project’s prime contractor Airbus in Friedrichshafen, Germany, in April 2020, to undergo final integration.

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01:25:40

BepiColombo experts share their first results from the spacecraft’s 10 April 2020 Earth flyby. Launched in 2018, BepiColombo is Europe’s first mission to Mercury. In the early hours of Friday 10 April, the spacecraft flew only 12 700 km from Earth for its first “gravity assist” on the way to the closest planet to the Sun. Guests during the live discussion included ESA mission experts and scientists from some of the instrument teams, who reflected on the flyby, presented data gathered by the different instruments and provided an outlook on the exciting science to come.

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BepiColombo’s final glimpses of Earth

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BepiColombo bids farewell to Earth and the Moon

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BepiColombo shadow transit during Earth flyby

The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission completed its first flyby on 10 April, as the spacecraft came less than 12 700 km from Earth’s surface at 06:25 CEST, steering its trajectory towards the final destination, Mercury. Images gathered just before closest approach portray our planet shining through darkness, during one of humankind’s most challenging times in recent history.

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BepiColombo’s close-up of Earth during flyby

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BepiColombo closing in on Earth ahead of flyby – full sequence

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Roscosmos Space Corporation have decided to postpone the launch of the second ExoMars mission to study the Red Planet to 2022.

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The most powerful black hole eruption in the Universe (with inset)