BepiColombo MPO – Scientific goals revisited?

Abstract:

The MESSENGER mission has fundamentally changed our view of the innermost planet. MESSENGER has shown us in many ways a very different planet from what we were expecting. With the end of the MESSENGER mission it is now up to BepiColombo to take up the task of answering the fundamental questions that MESSENGER raised and go beyond.

BepiColombo is a joint project between ESA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The Mission consists of two orbiters, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). The mission scenario foresees a launch of both spacecraft with an ARIANE V in 2017 and an arrival at Mercury in the first half of 2024. From their dedicated orbits the two spacecrafts will be studying the planet and its environment.

The MPO on BepiColombo will focus on a global characterization of Mercury through the investigation of its interior, surface, exosphere and magnetosphere. In addition, it will be testing Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The scientific payload of the MPO spacecraft will provide the detailed information necessary to better understand the process of planetary formation and evolution in the hottest part of the proto-planetary nebula as well as the similarities and differences between the magnetospheres of Mercury and the Earth.