295 - BepiColombo

omega tau science & engineering podcast

Guests: Pablo Munoz, Joe Zender, Roberto Peron, Ajako Matsuoka, Joana Oliveira, Paolo Ferri, Andreas Rudolph, Fabian Luedicke Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Mario Winkler

On October 20, the BepiColombo started its flight to Mercury on an Ariane 5 from Kourou. I was at the launch press event at ESOC in Darmstadt to follow the launch and to record a couple of interviews. The episode consists of three major parts. The first part is an interview with Pablo Munoz about mission analysis and flight dynamics. The second part looks at the science with Joe Zender, Roberto Peron, Ajako Matsuoka and Joana Oliveira. And part three are multiple short takes with Paolo Ferri, Andreas Rudolph and Fabian Luedicke recorded in the middle of the night at ESOC.

Since this episode has been “accelerated”, the shownotes will be delivered later.

Overview by Joe Zender

00:00:30

ESA | Joe Zender | Mercury | Mysteries of Mercury | BepiColombo Wikipedia | BepiColombo ESA Mission Homepage | BepiColombo Spacecraft | BepiColombo DLR contribution | JAXA | Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) | Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) | Getting to Mercury | Multi-layer insulation (MLI)

Episode Intro

00:06:49

Interview: Flight Dynamics

00:09:13

Pablo Munoz | ESOC | Flight Dynamics | ESA Flight Dynamics Operations | Escape Velocity | Swing-by / Gravity assist manover | Eccentricity of Mercury | LEOP phase | Deep Space maneuvers | Spacecraft propulsion | Electric propulsion | Gravity loss | Albedo | Delta velocity | Doppler effect | Delta-DOR | ESA Deep Space Antennas

Interview: Science

00:41:05

Joana Oliveira | Ajako Matsuoka | Roberto Peron | Italian National Institue of Astrophysics | Joe Zender | Solar wind | NASA Mariner program | Flyby | NASA Messenger spaceraft | Guiseppe Colombo | Orbital resonance | Mercury's magnetic field | Gravity | Ka-Band | Accelerometer | General Relativity | Pericenter | Vulcan | The Perihelion of Mercury | Exosphere | Magnetosphere | Digital elevation model DEM | BepiColombo Laser Altimeter | Precise orbit determination | ESA Science Operation Center at ESAC | Sodium | Gravity-gradient stabilization | Superior Conjunction | Shapiro time delay | Cassini mission | Solar Corona | Seismometer | Ground Truth

Launch: Role Call

01:42:24

ESTRACK | Guiana Space Centre, Kourou | BepiColombo Launch Replay

Launch: Paolo Ferri

01:44:32

Paolo Ferri | Malindi, Kenia | Attitude Control

Launch: Acquisition of Signal

01:52:44

Telemetry | New Norcia station

Launch: Andreas Rudolph

01:55:33

Andreas Rudolph | BepiColombo Solar Array | Images of BepiColombo | CNES

Launch: Altimeter

02:05:26

Fabian Luedicke | DLR | DLR Department Planetary Geodesy | BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (german) | BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (english)