Another major space event today, far from Earth.
In a few hours, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission will dump its solar electric ion propulsion module, MTM.
The eight year journey since launch has involved many planetary gravity assists & long arcs of continuous propulsion by MTM.
But that's now over & the European & Japanese science spacecraft, MPO & MMO, are preparing to enter Mercury orbit later this year.
I'll be at ESOC in Darmstadt again to watch today's event 🤞
