Ion-powered spacecraft is about to set sail for Mercury

The mission of exploring cooperation space between Europe and Japan has just made its way to Mercury, especially this is a space ship using ion energy.

is the space mission coordinated by the European Aviation Authority and the Japan Space Exploration Agency. The ship was launched on October 19 and will have 7 years in space, but it has made a very important step forward.

Graphic simulation mission of BepiColombo explores Mercury is operated by ion power.(Photo: ESA / ATG medialab).

In early December, this ship activated the propulsion engine using ion energy to continue the journey. This process has been successful without prior precedent, which means this is the first time an ion engine has been used to operate a spaceship on a mission to explore space.

'This electric technology is very new and efficient, it is operated in an extremely accurate way. Before being activated, it had to go through a lot of steps and was closely monitored from the ground station and from the survey equipment itself equipped with the ship ' , Elsa Montagnon, the director of BepiColombo's ship operation for know.

Although this technology has been officially put into operation, it is still a test itself. The ship still directs the antenna to Earth so that scientists at the ground station can closely monitor it to ensure that all operations are accurate. In mid-December, the ship will continue to activate another 22 phases of ion engine burning to advance to Mercury.

This road stretches 9 billion km. Ion energy propulsion motors are mounted on a separate module. After arriving at Mercury in 2025, the module will be separated and let two probes enter orbit and start the mission time.