London displays Mercury mission

A near-exact replica of the probe Europe will be sending to Mercury later this year has gone on show at London's Science Museum. BepiColombo is due to blast off on a seven-year journey to the inner-most world on an Ariane rocket in October. Referred to as the Structural Thermal Model (STM), the object now on display in the Wellcome Wing was used to prove the fundamental design of the mission. Prof Mark McCaughrean is the European Space Agency's senior science advisor.