Why it’s so hard to get to Mercury (ft. Scott Manley!)

By Dr. Becky

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AD | Go to https://snhu.edu/drbecky to explore over 200 degree programs and find your path forward. | It takes longer to get to Mercury, than it does to get out to Jupiter. The Juno mission took 5 years to cruise to Jupiter, whereas the Bepi Colombo mission has only just made it to Mercury after 8 LONG years in space. But why has it taken so long to get there? Mercury is practically in our back garden of the solar system, but Bepi Colombo’s complicated 8 year journey has seen it make a fly-by of Earth, two fly-bys of Venus, and 6 Mercury fly-bys before it will finally start to orbit Mercury very soon, in late 2026. So, who better to talk through the incredible feat of BepiColombo's journey with me than YouTube’s very own rocket scientist, Scott Manley. Papers mentioned: Einstein (1915) - https://etienneklein.fr/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Relativit%C3%A9-g%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale.pdf Previous videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlNSvrYygRc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o8kaCUm

Tags: dr beccy, astronomie, physiks