The European Space Agency (ESA) has compiled the images of the scientific results of the reconnaissance missions that have been launched into the Solar System. The results are impressive.
Not only do we have astonishingly defined images of the bodies in our corner of the Milky Way, but we have also been able to transform the waves received from them into audio files, such as those of our star King, the Sun.
The Esa has carried out around a hundred missions throughout its history. One of the most immediate is called BepiColombo, which will be launched in 2018, and will provide the best understanding of Mercury to date. It consists of two individual orbiters: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) to map the planet and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) to investigate its magnetosphere.
The BepiColombo mission is especially challenging because Mercury's orbit is so close to our star . The planet is difficult to observe from a distance, because the Sun is so bright. In addition, it is difficult to reach because a spacecraft must lose a lot of energy to 'fall' towards the planet from Earth. The enormous gravity of the Sun presents a challenge when placing a spacecraft in a stable orbit around Mercury.
The impressive ESA images allow us to take a virtual journey through our Solar System, in addition to showing that Europe is at the forefront of aerospace and astrophysics technology.
