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ESA preps for Venus flybys later this month

The European Space Agency is preparing for two flybys of Venus later this month and, while its spacecraft are using the planet’s orbit, they won’t actually be studying our neighbour.

The two spacecraft are Solar Orbiter and BepiColombo and their reasons for flying past Venus differ only slightly.

Solar Orbiter is a joint operation between the ESA and NASA that has the goal of taking images of our Sun, specifically the polar regions of the star. The craft was launched in February 2020 and it will begin its mission later this year.

On it’s journey to the Sun, Solar Orbiter will come within 7 995km of Venus. This is not the first time Solar Orbiter will come close to Venus as uses its gravity to get closer to the Sun.

As for BepiColombo it will come withing 550km of Venus but its destination is Mercury. As you might suspect it needs to come so close to Venus to shoot it into Mercury’s orbit.

Flight paths of Solar Orbiter and BepiColombo. Image – ESA

“It needs flybys of Earth, Venus and Mercury itself, together with the spacecraft’s solar electric propulsion system, to help steer into Mercury orbit against the immense gravitational pull of the Sun,” wrote the ESA.

Now, this is where some disappointment needs to be injected into the mix.

Neither Solar Orbiter nor BepiColombo will be snapping shots of Venus, at least not in any real detail. Solar Orbiter must face the Sun in order to remain operational and BepiColombo’s main camera is currently shielded by a transfer module.

“However, two of BepiColombo’s three monitoring cameras will be taking photos around the time of close approach and in the days after as the planet fades from view,” explains ESA.

The photos will be black and white with a 1024 x 1024 resolution. Any images that BepiColombo does capture are also likely to feature the craft’s solar array and antennas.

From there, ESA expects BepiColombo to reach Mercury, or at least see it for the first time by 2nd October.

“On 27 November, Solar Orbiter will make a final flyby of Earth at 460 km, kicking off the start of its main mission. It will continue to make regular flybys of Venus to progressively increase its orbit inclination to best observe the Sun’s uncharted polar regions, which is key to understanding the Sun’s 11 year activity cycle,” the ESA added.

We should see BepiColombo’s images by 11th August.

[Source – European Space Agency] [Image – European Space Agency]

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