Posted: Thu, Jun 26, 2003, 10:36 AM ET (1436 GMT)
Japan is set to approve plans to cooperate with Europe on an ambitious Mercury orbiter and lander mission scheduled for early next decade, according to Japanese media reports. A subcommittee of Japan’s Space Activities Commission endorsed a plan this week under which Japan would contribute one spacecraft as part of a three-spacecraft joint mission with Europe. Japan’s spacecraft would be an orbiter designed to measure magnetic fields in the vicinity of the planet. It would be joined by BepiColombo, a proposed European mission that features an orbiter and a lander. The three spacecraft would be launched on at least two Soyuz boosters in late 2010 or early 2011, arriving at Mercury in 2014. Formal approval of the Japanese contribution to the mission by the Space Activities Commission is expected in July. The Japanese component of the mission is estimated to cost $115 million, while Europe will spend $513 million on BepiColombo.
