The online news release cited a 'glitch' with the spacecraft that is impairing its ability to generate thrust... But this is not full thrust, and the root cause of the problem is still poorly understood.
Undertaken jointly with the Japanese space agency, JAXA, BepiColombo launched on an Ariane 5 rocket in October 2018. So there is a lot riding on these thrusters. The critical question is, at this power level, can BepiColombo still perform its primary task of reaching orbit around Mercury?
#bepicolombo-spacecraft #european-space-agency #japanese-space-agency #mission-setback #space-exploration
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