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Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your weary 'net denizen"):
coreyspowell ("Corey S Powell") wrote:

The BepiColombo spacecraft just broke in two. In December, the remainder will split in two again.

It's all part of the elaborate preparations for making the best-ever observations of the enigmatic planet Mercury.

https://www.esa.int/Science%5FExploration/Space%5FScience/BepiColombo/Latest%5Fupdates%5FBepiColombo%5Fs%5Farrival%5Fat%5FMercury #space #science #tech

Artist’s impression showing the Mercury Transfer Module separate from the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) composite spacecraft. The transfer module is only needed for the journey to Mercury. The two science orbiters will be captured into Mercury orbit, and the small thrusters on MPO will be used to deliver MMO into its orbit. There, MMO will be ejected from MPO and spun up. MPO will then discard the sunshield, and continue into its own orbit around Mercury.
Artist’s impression showing the Mercury Transfer Module separate from the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) composite spacecraft. The transfer module is only needed for the journey to Mercury. The two science orbiters will be captured into Mercury orbit, and the small thrusters on MPO will be used to deliver MMO into its orbit. There, MMO will be ejected from MPO and spun up. MPO will then discard the sunshield, and continue into its own orbit around Mercury.