The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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This animation shows the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) of the BepiColombo mission.
BepiColombo will be launched from Kourou with an upgraded Soyuz-2B rocket with a Fregat M upper stage. Just before lift-off the first and second stages of the Soyuz rocket ignite, with the first stage comprising four boosters around the central second stage.
About two minutes after launch, the four boosters separate from the second stage, which continues to fire for almost 3 more minutes.
Having cleared the Earth's atmosphere, the two halves of the protective fairing are ejected, revealing the Mercury Composite Spacecraft (MCS).
The third stage is ignited and right after, the second stage is shut down. After the third stage is completed, the Fregat stage is fired to put the spacecraft in a geostationary transfer orbit.
Here the Fregat stage separates from the MCS. The MPO's (Mercury Polar Orbiter) solar panel is deployed, as well as the end sections of both the Mercury Transfer Module solar array wings. To prevent stresses during the following orbit raising manoeuvres the solar arrays are not fully deployed until at the end of the next mission phase: the Near Earth Commissioning phase.