Accelerometer data during BepiColombo’s Venus flyby

A spectrogram visualising the effects of the 10 August 2021 Venus flyby on the BepiColombo spacecraft, created from data recorded by the Italian Spring Accelerometer (ISA). Closest approach took place at 13:51:54 UTC at a distance of 552 km from the planet’s surface. The plot shows changes in the velocity of the reaction wheels as the spacecraft experienced the gravity of the planet, as well as effects most likely due to the rapid thermal heating and cooling as the spacecraft flew from the darkside of the planet to the dayside. The data has been sonified and matched to the plot to better visualise the frequency changes. For example, the changes in velocity of the reaction wheels (curved line) can be both viewed and heard. The ‘ticking’ noises are likely due to the temperature changes in the satellite structure. Read more: