Career
He is best known for his work on the planet, and it was his calculations on how to get a spacecraft into a resonant orbit with with multiple fly-bys that led to the success of the Mariner 10 mission. Colombo also explained the spin-orbit resonance in "s orbit, showing that it rotates three times for every two orbits around the sun. Colombo also made significant contributions to the study of, mostly using ground-based observations in the era before space exploration reached the outer solar system.
Colombo invented tethers for tying satellites together.
He also participated in the planning of Giotto, the European Space Agency"s mission to Halley"s Comet, but died before the spacecraft was launched. The planned European Space Agency mission to is named BepiColombo in his honor.
The Colombo Gap in and asteroid 10387 Bepicolombo are also named for him.