Andrew Yee[_1_]
January 19th 08, 07:17 PM
ESA News
http://www.esa.int
18 January 2008
BepiColombo industrial contract signed
The industrial development of BepiColombo, Europe's first mission to
Mercury, has been officially kicked off. The prime contract, awarded by ESA
to Astrium, was signed today during a ceremony that took place in
Friedrichshafen, Germany.
BepiColombo, a mission to make the most comprehensive study of Mercury ever,
was selected by ESA as one of its cornerstone missions in October 2000.
Since then, several industrial studies have been performed and their
assessment led to the selection of Astrium as prime contractor in 2006.
BepiColombo is due for launch in August 2013, and will reach Mercury in 2019
after a six-year journey towards the inner Solar System. It is the first
dual mission to Mercury, with one European spacecraft and one provided from
Japan. The programme is carried out as a joint mission under ESA leadership
with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
"The two spacecraft will address scientific questions such as the origin and
evolution of a planet close to its parent star, the status of the planet's
interior and of its magnetic field, as well as a test of Einstein's theory
of General Relativity," said Johannes Benkhoff, ESA Project Scientist for
BepiColombo.
One spacecraft, ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), will carry 11
instruments to study the surface and internal composition of the planet with
unprecedented accuracy, using different wavelengths and investigation
techniques.
The second spacecraft, JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), will
carry five instruments to study the planet's magnetosphere, that is the
region of space around the planet that is dominated by its magnetic field.
On behalf of ESA, Astrium will lead a network of subcontractors to design
and build ESA's MPO spacecraft and the so-called Mercury Transfer Module --
that is the module to carry the MPO-MMO composite spacecraft to its
destination.
"Astrium will have to address several technical challenges," added Jan van
Casteren, ESA's BepiColombo Project Manager. "They mostly derive from the
difficulty of operating a spacecraft in the harsh environment of a planet so
close to the Sun, where the radiation is about ten times more intense than
in Earth's proximity."
An additional difficulty is that reaching Mercury and then entering into
orbit requires a large amount of energy to brake against the Sun's gravity.
To achieve this, the cruise and the orbit insertion phases will primarily
rely on solar-electric propulsion, complemented by several planetary
gravity-assist manoeuvres and conventional (chemical) propulsion.
To achieve the best science, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter will operate
facing down the planet with its instruments, something never tried before at
Mercury due to the intense heat coming from the surface. It will also
feature the highest data rate capacity ever used at Mercury, returning a
high-volume of high-quality data to Earth, for the maximum scientific
return. All these technical challenges are reflected in the spacecraft
design.
Astrium is already consolidating the design itself, ready for the
preliminary design review to take place in late spring, after which the
actual building of the spacecraft will start. In the meantime, the
subcontractors are being selected for the procurement of the equipment and
units needed to build the spacecraft. This procurement phase will continue
throughout 2008.
The cost of BepiColombo to ESA is 665 million Euros, including the launch
and the operations up to 2020. The contract to Astrium is for 350.9 million
Euros. The cost of the MPO instruments, funded by European institutes, is
over 200 million Euros.
"Mercury is the planet closest the Sun, making it hard to get to and so it
is a technical challenge by anyone's measure," said Prof. David Southwood,
ESA's Director of Science. "However Mercury has also regularly confounded
planetary scientists with its exceptional properties and that makes it a
grand scientific challenge."
Note for editors
Astrium's subcontracting companies include: the Italian branch of Thales
Alenia Space Italy, which will be the co-prime contractor for the
development of the MPO's electrical power, thermal control and
communications systems and for the integration and test activities; Astrium
Ltd (UK), co-prime contractor for the electrical and chemical propulsion
system as well as for the complete composite spacecraft structure and
Astrium (France), which will develop the on-board software.
BepiColombo will be launched from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French
Guiana, on board a Soyuz-Fregat 2-1B rocket provided through Arianespace.
For more information:
Jan van Casteren, ESA BepiColombo Project Manager
Email: Jan.van.Casteren @ esa.int
Johannes Benkhoff, ESA BepiColombo Project Scientist
Email: Johannes.benkhoff @ esa.int
[NOTE: Images supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM7UR3MDAF_index_1.html ]
http://www.esa.int
18 January 2008
BepiColombo industrial contract signed
The industrial development of BepiColombo, Europe's first mission to
Mercury, has been officially kicked off. The prime contract, awarded by ESA
to Astrium, was signed today during a ceremony that took place in
Friedrichshafen, Germany.
BepiColombo, a mission to make the most comprehensive study of Mercury ever,
was selected by ESA as one of its cornerstone missions in October 2000.
Since then, several industrial studies have been performed and their
assessment led to the selection of Astrium as prime contractor in 2006.
BepiColombo is due for launch in August 2013, and will reach Mercury in 2019
after a six-year journey towards the inner Solar System. It is the first
dual mission to Mercury, with one European spacecraft and one provided from
Japan. The programme is carried out as a joint mission under ESA leadership
with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
"The two spacecraft will address scientific questions such as the origin and
evolution of a planet close to its parent star, the status of the planet's
interior and of its magnetic field, as well as a test of Einstein's theory
of General Relativity," said Johannes Benkhoff, ESA Project Scientist for
BepiColombo.
One spacecraft, ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), will carry 11
instruments to study the surface and internal composition of the planet with
unprecedented accuracy, using different wavelengths and investigation
techniques.
The second spacecraft, JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), will
carry five instruments to study the planet's magnetosphere, that is the
region of space around the planet that is dominated by its magnetic field.
On behalf of ESA, Astrium will lead a network of subcontractors to design
and build ESA's MPO spacecraft and the so-called Mercury Transfer Module --
that is the module to carry the MPO-MMO composite spacecraft to its
destination.
"Astrium will have to address several technical challenges," added Jan van
Casteren, ESA's BepiColombo Project Manager. "They mostly derive from the
difficulty of operating a spacecraft in the harsh environment of a planet so
close to the Sun, where the radiation is about ten times more intense than
in Earth's proximity."
An additional difficulty is that reaching Mercury and then entering into
orbit requires a large amount of energy to brake against the Sun's gravity.
To achieve this, the cruise and the orbit insertion phases will primarily
rely on solar-electric propulsion, complemented by several planetary
gravity-assist manoeuvres and conventional (chemical) propulsion.
To achieve the best science, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter will operate
facing down the planet with its instruments, something never tried before at
Mercury due to the intense heat coming from the surface. It will also
feature the highest data rate capacity ever used at Mercury, returning a
high-volume of high-quality data to Earth, for the maximum scientific
return. All these technical challenges are reflected in the spacecraft
design.
Astrium is already consolidating the design itself, ready for the
preliminary design review to take place in late spring, after which the
actual building of the spacecraft will start. In the meantime, the
subcontractors are being selected for the procurement of the equipment and
units needed to build the spacecraft. This procurement phase will continue
throughout 2008.
The cost of BepiColombo to ESA is 665 million Euros, including the launch
and the operations up to 2020. The contract to Astrium is for 350.9 million
Euros. The cost of the MPO instruments, funded by European institutes, is
over 200 million Euros.
"Mercury is the planet closest the Sun, making it hard to get to and so it
is a technical challenge by anyone's measure," said Prof. David Southwood,
ESA's Director of Science. "However Mercury has also regularly confounded
planetary scientists with its exceptional properties and that makes it a
grand scientific challenge."
Note for editors
Astrium's subcontracting companies include: the Italian branch of Thales
Alenia Space Italy, which will be the co-prime contractor for the
development of the MPO's electrical power, thermal control and
communications systems and for the integration and test activities; Astrium
Ltd (UK), co-prime contractor for the electrical and chemical propulsion
system as well as for the complete composite spacecraft structure and
Astrium (France), which will develop the on-board software.
BepiColombo will be launched from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French
Guiana, on board a Soyuz-Fregat 2-1B rocket provided through Arianespace.
For more information:
Jan van Casteren, ESA BepiColombo Project Manager
Email: Jan.van.Casteren @ esa.int
Johannes Benkhoff, ESA BepiColombo Project Scientist
Email: Johannes.benkhoff @ esa.int
[NOTE: Images supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM7UR3MDAF_index_1.html ]