Loading the MTM with xenon
Date: 30 June 2018
Satellite: BepiColombo
Depicts: Mercury Transfer Module
Location: Kourou, French Guiana
Copyright: ESA–B.Guillaume
On 29 and 30 June, a total of 581 kg of xenon has been loaded into the three tanks of the BepiColombo Mercury Transfer Module (MTM), here seen on a loading scale at Europe's Spaceport. Xenon is used as propellant for the module's electric propulsion system that will take the spacecraft to Mercury, together with gravity assist flybys at Earth, Venus and Mercury itself.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
