BepiColombo’s planetary and magnetospheric orbiters at Mercury

This artist’s impression provides a view of the two BepiColombo spacecraft, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), in their elliptical polar orbits around Mercury.

The MPO will circle the planet along an orbit ranging between 400 and 1500 kilometres above the surface. The MMO orbit ranges between 400 and 12 000 kilometres above the surface. The inclination and the eccentricity of these orbits are optimised for the study of the planet and of its magnetosphere in the very high temperature environment around Mercury.

The MPO will circle the planet along an orbit ranging between 400 and 1500 kilometres distance from the surface. The MMO orbit ranges between 400 and 12000 kilometres from the surface. The inclination and the eccentricity of these orbits are optimised for the study of the planet and of its magnetosphere in the very-high-temperature environment around Mercury.

Note: This artist's impression reflects the spacecraft concept of the time when it was published. The design has changed in the meantime and thus this image is no longer up-to-date. For the latest images of BepiColombo, please check the most recently added images in our gallery.