![](\"http:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2017\/06\/mercury_transfer_module_solar_wing_deployment\/16987281-1-eng-GB\/Mercury_Transfer_Module_solar_wing_deployment_small.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\nSpanning 14 m from the spacecraft body, this impressive solar wing is one of two attached to ESA\u2019s BepiColombo Mercury Transfer Module.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe solar wing deployment mechanisms were tested last month at ESA\u2019s technical centre in the Netherlands as part of final checks ahead of the mission\u2019s October 2018 launch from Europe\u2019s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.\n<\/p>\n
\nDuring testing, the five panels were supported from above to simulate the weightlessness of space.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe wings will be folded against the spacecraft\u2019s body inside the Ariane 5 launch vehicle and will only open once in space. Mechanisms lock each panel segment in place. They can be rotated with the solar array drive mechanism attached to the main body.\n<\/p>\n
\nDespite travelling towards the Sun, the transfer module requires a large solar array. Temperature constraints mean they cannot directly face the Sun for long periods without degrading, so they have to be angled and thus require a greater area to meet BepiColombo\u2019s power demands.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe module will use a combination of electric propulsion and multiple gravity-assists at Earth, Venus and Mercury to carry two scientific orbiters to the innermost planet in our Solar System.\n<\/p>\n
\nAfter the 7.2 year journey, ESA\u2019s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and Japan\u2019s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter will separate from the transfer module and enter to their own orbits. They will make complementary measurements of Mercury\u2019s interior, surface, exosphere and magnetosphere.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe data will tell us more about the origin and evolution of a planet close to its parent star, providing a better understanding of the overall evolution of our own Solar System as well as exoplanet systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
\nSpanning 14 m from the spacecraft body, this impressive solar wing is one of two attached to ESA’s BepiColombo Mercury Transfer Module.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe solar wing deployment mechanisms were tested last month at ESA’s technical centre in the Netherlands as part of final checks ahead of the mission’s October 2018 launch from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.\n<\/p>\n
\nDuring testing, the five panels were supported from above to simulate the weightlessness of space.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe wings will be folded against the spacecraft’s body inside the Ariane 5 launch vehicle and will only open once in space. Mechanisms lock each panel segment in place. They can be rotated with the solar array drive mechanism attached to the main body.\n<\/p>\n
\nDespite travelling towards the Sun, the transfer module requires a large solar array. Temperature constraints mean they cannot directly face the Sun for long periods without degrading, so they have to be angled and thus require a greater area to meet BepiColombo’s power demands.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe module will use a combination of electric propulsion and multiple gravity-assists at Earth, Venus and Mercury to carry two scientific orbiters to the innermost planet in our Solar System.\n<\/p>\n
\nAfter the 7.2 year journey, ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and Japan’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter will separate from the transfer module and enter to their own orbits. They will make complementary measurements of Mercury’s interior, surface, exosphere and magnetosphere.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe data will tell us more about the origin and evolution of a planet close to its parent star, providing a better understanding of the overall evolution of our own Solar System as well as exoplanet systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":615444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-multimedia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=329779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329780,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329779\/revisions\/329780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/615444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=329779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=329779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=329779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}