Реклама Google — средство выживания форумов :)
С космодрома Куру стартовала ракета-носитель «Ариан-5», которая вывела в космос аппараты европейско-японской миссии #BepiColombo по исследованию Меркурия.
В научной программе принимают участие российские исследователи —
Чтобы сэкономить топливо, зонду нужно будет проделать еще восемь гравитационных маневров. Два из них запланированы вблизи Венеры, шесть – у самого Меркурия.
Science payload
Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS),
“We possibly could detect phosphine,” says ESA's Johannes Benkhoff, BepiColombo's Project Scientist. “But we do not know if our instrument is sensitive enough.”
The instrument on the European side of the mission, called MERTIS (MErcury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer), is designed to study the composition of the surface of Mercury. However, the team believe they can also use it to study the atmospheric composition of Venus during both flybys.
On this first flyby, the spacecraft will get no closer than 10,000 kilometers from Venus. That’s very far, but potentially still close enough to make a detection.
“There actually is something in the spectral range of MERTIS,” says Jörn Helbert from the German Aerospace Center, co-lead on the MERTIS instrument. “So we are now seeing if our sensitivity is good enough to do observations.”