BepiColombo stack

Examining the BepiColombo stack in ESA’s test centre. The person gives a sense of scale of the full spacecraft stack, which is more than 6 m high.

Although not fully visible in this view, the Mercury Transfer Module is at the bottom, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter is in the middle, and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter’s Sunshield and Interface Structure is seen at the top. The red panels are covers protecting the folded solar wings, and will be removed before flight. The white covering on the spacecraft is a thermal blanket to help protect the craft from the high temperatures that will be experienced operating close to the Sun. The horn-shaped object on the corner of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter is the spacecraft’s medium gain antenna; it is fixed to a boom that will be deployed after launch.