SIMBIOSYS-STC ready for launch: a technical recap

BepiColombo is the first ambitious, multi-spacecraft mission of ESA/JAXA to Mercury. It will be launched in October 2018 from Kourou, French Guiana, starting a 7-year journey, which will bring its modules to the innermost planet of the solar system. The Stereo Camera (STC) is part of the SIMBIO-SYS instrument, the Italian suite for imaging in visible and near infrared which is mounted on the BepiColombo European module, i.e. the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO). STC represents the first push-frame stereo camera on board of an ESA satellite and its main objective is the global three-dimensional reconstruction of the Mercury surface.