Video reveals how spacecraft feels planetary flyby | Watch and Listen

 

Video/Sonification Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/ISA/ASI-INAF

Ever wondered how a spacecraft feel a planetary flyby?

The European Space Agency (ESA) has shared the sonification - a process that translates astronomical data into sound to make it audible to the human ear - of the data recorded by an instrument onboard the BepiColombo spacecraft as it flew past the planet.

During the October 2021 flyby, the Italian Spring Accelerometer (ISA), a three-axis high-sensitivity accelerometer on board the BepiColombo's Mercury Planetary Orbiter, recorded the vibrations and the movements of the spacecraft during its first flyby of Mercury in 2021.

According to the agency, the first two distinct sounds correspond to the spacecraft entering and exiting the shadow of Mercury, respectively.

1/ How does a spacecraft "feel" a planetary flyby? In this video, the Italian Spring Accelerometer (ISA) onboard @BepiColombo's Mercury Planetary Orbiter recorded the vibrations and the movements of the spacecraft as it flew past Mercury, back in Oct. 2021 pic.twitter.com/rAF3Z1hgNL

— ESA Science (@esascience) March 2, 2023

For the unversed, BepiColombo, a joint mission of ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is the most advanced probe ever to visit Mercury. Packed with scientific instruments, the spacecraft is on a mission to conduct a detailed study of the innermost planet in our solar system and answer many perplexing questions about it.

BepiColombo comprises two orbiters - ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), both operating from complementary orbits to study all aspects of the mysterious planet from its core to surface processes, magnetic field and exosphere. The spacecraft is planned to perform a total of six flybys of Mercury during its seven-year cruise to the planet. As of this writing, it has already completed two of these flybys - the next is scheduled for June 2023.

Overall, the spacecraft will make use of nine planetary flybys, including one of Earth and two of Venus, to help steer into Mercury's orbit. Its main science mission is scheduled to begin in early 2026.