The BepiColombo Mission to Explore Planet Mercury

Dr Johannes Benkhoff is a planetary physicist working in the field of computational modeling of the physics and chemistry of planetary bodies and comets. He got his PhD in 1992 at University of Münster, Germany. He obtained a scholarship from the German Science Foundation (DFG) to work for three years as a post-doc with Prof. Dr. Huebner at the SwRI institute in Texas, USA. After that he worked as a research scientist at the German Aerospace Centre, DLR, before he moved in 2004 to the European Space Agency, ESA-ESTEC in Noorwijk, Netherlands. He was CoI on Rosetta VIRTIS and MUPUS, CoI on the NASA Contour mission, and CoI on Venus Express. Since 2008 he is the ESA project scientist of the L class (cornerstone) mission BepiColombo operated in close collaboration with the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA.   Dr Go Murakami is an Assistant Professor working at Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) in Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). He is the Project Scientist of the ESA-JAXA joint mission BepiColombo for Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter: Mio. His science expertise is solar terrestrial plasma physics and planetary atmospheric science. He got his Ph.D by The University of Tokyo in 2011. Then he worked at JAXA/ISAS as a research fellow between 2011-2017 for developments and observations of Japanese ultraviolet space telescope Hisaki and the BepiColombo mission. In 2017 he got the current position at JAXA/ISAS.   Prof. Dr Ayako Matsuoka is the Director of Data Analysis Center for Geomagnetism and Space Magnetism, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University. She has worked on the magnetic field experiments as Principal Investigator (PI) in the Japanese NOZOMI and ARASE satellite projects, Co-PI for BepiColombo MIO, and Sub-PI for Martian Moon Exploration (MMX) and Comet Interceptor B1 Probe.   

Preface.- Dedication.- BepiColombo - Mission Overview and Science Goals.- Mio—First Comprehensive Exploration of Mercury’s Space Environment: Mission Overview.- BepiColombo Ground Segment and Mission Operations.- Mission Data Processor Aboard the BepiColombo Mio Spacecraft: Design and Scientific Operation Concept.- Geodesy, Geophysics and Fundamental Physics Investigations of the BepiColombo Mission.- Investigating Mercury’s Environment with the Two-Spacecraft BepiColombo Mission.- Rationale for BepiColombo Studies of Mercury’s Surface and Composition.- BepiColombo Science Investigations During Cruise and Flybys at the Earth, Venus and Mercury.- The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter.- ISA, a High Sensitivity Accelerometer in the Interplanetary Space.- Mercury Dust Monitor (MDM) Onboard the Mio Orbiter of the BepiColombo Mission.- Studying the Composition and Mineralogy of the Hermean Surface with the Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS) for the BepiColombo Mission: An Update.- The BepiColombo–Mio Magnetometer en Route to Mercury.- The Mercury Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer (MGNS) Onboard the Mercury Planetary Orbiter of the BepiColombo Mission: Design Updates and First Measurements in Space.- The BepiColombo Mercury Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer: Science Goals, Instrument Performance and Operations.- Gravity, Geodesy and Fundamental Physics with BepiColombo’s MORE Investigation.- The BepiColombo Planetary Magnetometer MPO-MAG: What Can We Learn from the Hermean Magnetic Field?.- Pre-flight Calibration and Near-Earth Commissioning Results of the Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment (MPPE) Onboard MMO (Mio).- Plasma Wave Investigation (PWI) Aboard BepiColombo Mio on the Trip to the First Measurement of Electric Fields, Electromagnetic Waves, and Radio Waves Around Mercury.- The MEFISTO and WPT Electric Field Sensors of the Plasma Wave Investigation on the BepiColombo Mio Spacecraft.- Measurements of Magnetic Field Fluctuations for Plasma Wave Investigation by the Search Coil Magnetometers (SCM) Onboard Bepicolombo Mio (Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter).- SERENA: Particle Instrument Suite for Determining the Sun-Mercury Interaction from BepiColombo.- SIMBIO-SYS: Scientific Cameras and Spectrometer for the BepiColombo Mission.- Solar Intensity X-Ray and Particle Spectrometer SIXS: Instrument Design and First Results.- The BepiColombo Environment Radiation Monitor, BERM.- Correction to: Studying the Composition and Mineralogy of the Hermean Surface with the Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS) for the BepiColombo Mission: An Update.- Correction to: SERENA: Particle Instrument Suite for Determining the Sun-Mercury Interaction from BepiColombo.