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BepiColombo - Mission Overview and Science Goals
Orsini, S.; Quemerais, E.; Glassmeier, K. -H. +28 more
BepiColombo is a joint mission between the European Space Agency, ESA, and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, to perform a comprehensive exploration of Mercury. Launched on 20th October 2018 from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, the spacecraft is now en route to Mercury.
In situ multi-spacecraft and remote imaging observations of the first CME detected by Solar Orbiter and BepiColombo
Möstl, C.; Harrison, R. A.; Davies, J. A. +20 more
Context. On 2020 April 19 a coronal mass ejection (CME) was detected in situ by Solar Orbiter at a heliocentric distance of about 0.8 AU. The CME was later observed in situ on April 20 by the Wind and BepiColombo spacecraft whilst BepiColombo was located very close to Earth. This CME presents a good opportunity for a triple radial alignment study,…
The BepiColombo Planetary Magnetometer MPO-MAG: What Can We Learn from the Hermean Magnetic Field?
Balogh, A.; Glassmeier, K. -H.; Nakamura, R. +29 more
The magnetometer instrument MPO-MAG on-board the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) of the BepiColombo mission en-route to Mercury is introduced, with its instrument design, its calibration and scientific targets. The instrument is comprised of two tri-axial fluxgate magnetometers mounted on a 2.9 m boom and are 0.8 m apart. They monitor the magnetic…
Geodesy, Geophysics and Fundamental Physics Investigations of the BepiColombo Mission
Cappuccio, Paolo; di Stefano, Ivan; Iess, Luciano +15 more
In preparation for the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury, thematic working groups had been established for coordinating the activities within the BepiColombo Science Working Team in specific fields. Here we describe the scientific goals of the Geodesy and Geophysics Working Group (GGWG) that aims at addressing fundamental questions regarding…
Pre-flight Calibration and Near-Earth Commissioning Results of the Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment (MPPE) Onboard MMO (Mio)
Zong, Qiugang; Barabash, Stas; Bruno, Roberto +73 more
BepiColombo Mio (previously called MMO: Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter) was successfully launched by Ariane 5 from Kourou, French Guiana on October 20, 2018. The Mercury Plasma/Particle Experiment (MPPE) is a comprehensive instrument package onboard Mio spacecraft used for plasma, high-energy particle and energetic neutral atom measurements. It co…
Gravity, Geodesy and Fundamental Physics with BepiColombo's MORE Investigation
Longo, F.; Klioner, S.; Fienga, A. +37 more
The Mercury Orbiter Radio Science Experiment (MORE) of the ESA mission BepiColombo will provide an accurate estimation of Mercury's gravity field and rotational state, improved tests of general relativity, and a novel deep space navigation system. The key experimental setup entails a highly stable, multi-frequency radio link in X and Ka band, enab…
Multi-point analysis of coronal mass ejection flux ropes using combined data from Solar Orbiter, BepiColombo, and Wind
Möstl, C.; Horbury, T. S.; Baumjohann, W. +15 more
Context. The recent launch of Solar Orbiter and the flyby of BepiColombo opened a brief window during which these two spacecraft, along with the existing spacecraft at L1, were positioned in a constellation that allowed for the detailed sampling of any Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME). Fortunately, two such events occurred during this ti…
SERENA: Particle Instrument Suite for Determining the Sun-Mercury Interaction from BepiColombo
Kallio, E.; Schmidt, W.; Barabash, S. +118 more
The ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury will provide simultaneous measurements from two spacecraft, offering an unprecedented opportunity to investigate magnetospheric and exospheric particle dynamics at Mercury as well as their interactions with solar wind, solar radiation, and interplanetary dust. The particle instrument suite SERENA (Search…
BepiColombo Science Investigations During Cruise and Flybys at the Earth, Venus and Mercury
Fränz, Markus; Barabash, Stas; Krüger, Harald +59 more
The dual spacecraft mission BepiColombo is the first joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to explore the planet Mercury. BepiColombo was launched from Kourou (French Guiana) on October 20th, 2018, in its packed configuration including two spacecraft, a transfer module, and a sun…
The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter
Lara, L. M.; Oberst, J.; Thomas, N. +48 more
The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA) is the first European laser altimeter constructed for interplanetary flight. BELA uses a 50 mJ pulsed Nd:YAG laser operating at 10 Hz with a 20 cm aperture receiver to perform the ranging. The instrument also uses a digital approach for range detection and pulse analysis. The ranging accuracy is expected to b…