Closing the thermal shroud around the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter Mechanical and Propulsion Bus Proto-Flight Model inside the Phenix thermal vacuum facility
![](https://cdn.sci.esa.int/documents/34795/35668/1567218888376-BepiColombo_MPO_MPB_PFM_Phenix_5__PAVO-8259_410.jpg)
Date: 16 January 2013
Satellite: BepiColombo
Location: European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), the Netherlands
Copyright: ESA - Anneke Le Floc'h
Closing the thermal shroud around the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter Mechanical and Propulsion Bus (MPB) Proto-Flight Model inside the Phenix thermal vacuum facility.
The MPB is going to be baked out in a vacuum to remove any contaminants that would outgas in space. Twin cryopumps and a 10 m2 condensing cryopanel will be used to maintain the vacuum as the spacecraft outgasses.
Last Update: 1 September 2019