The Solar System, BepiColombo, and flying towards Mercury - Expedition Sound 2

We get as close as possible to travelling aboard a spacecraft, experiencing what it would be like to fly towards planet Mercury. Through a sonification of data collected during ESA/JAXA BepiColombo’s sixth flyby, we can almost feel the spacecraft shaking and the rocky planet’s gravity tugging on it.

In this episode of Expedition Sound, we explore the planets of our Solar System and make a stop at planet Mercury. Blasted by the Sun's intense heat and shaped by a magnetic field unlike any other rocky planet’s, this small world is a place that still holds many mysteries.

We hear from BepiColombo Project Scientist Geraint Jones about which of Mercury's mysteries the mission will help scientists unravel, and about what hearing the spacecraft approach the planet is like for someone so involved in the mission. In this episode, we also talk with Ben Ruggles, who was an undergraduate student at the University of Portsmouth, UK, at the time of recording. Ben explains how he uses sonification in his astronomy research as a scientist with a visual impairment, and discusses the challenges of collaborating with others while doing science through sound.

Hosted by Zsófi Szalavári

Check out the sonification by Carmelo Magnafico (IAPS/INAF) here: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2025/01/The_sounds_of_BepiColombo_s_sixth_flight_past_Mercury

Learn more about the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission: esa.int/BepiColombo

Find out more about STRAUSS, the sonification tool that Ben is using for his research: https://www.audiouniverse.org/our-research-and-code/strauss-code

Original theme music produced by Marci Szalavári (https://soundcloud.com/septrone-hd).

Expedition Sound is a podcast series by the European Space Agency (ESA) in which you’re invited to explore the Universe through your ears. Guided by sonifications – the translation of data into sound – we travel from our Sun out into the depths of space to uncover what the space telescopes of ESA’s science missions teach us about the Universe.