Space and Ground Facilities Ltd.
Space and Ground Facilities Ltd.
Consisting of two orbiters, BepiColombo* will provide the most complete exploration yet of Mercury, the innermost planet. One component of BepiColombo will map the planet (MPO = Mercury Planetary Orbiter) and a second will investigate its magnetosphere (MMO = Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter). Among other things, BepiColombo will make a complete map of Mercury at different wavelengths. This will enable it to map its mineralogy and elemental composition and determine whether the interior of the planet is molten or not. BepiColombo is an ESA mission in co-operation with Japan (MPO).
As the nearest planet to the Sun, Mercury has an important role in showing us how planets form. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars make up the family of terrestrial planets, each carrying information that is essential for tracing the history of the whole group. Knowledge how they originated and evolved is a key to understanding how conditions supporting life arose in the Solar System, and possibly elsewhere. As long as Earth-like planets orbiting other stars remain inaccessible to astronomers, the Solar System is the only laboratory where we can test models applicable to other planetary systems. Exploring Mercury is therefore fundamental to answer important astrophysical and philosophical questions such as 'Are Earth-like planets common in the Galaxy?'
The KFKI RMKI is participating in the realisation of SERENA/PICAM instrument. The SGF Ltd. is developing the Electrical Groung Support Equipment. The SERENA instrument suite (Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances) will study in-situ the composition, the vertical structure and the source of the deposit processes of the exosphere of Mercury. The SERENA consists of four sensors:
* Name BepiColombo is named after Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo (1920-1984), a Italian man who studied Mercury in detail as well as orbits and interplanetary travelling.
As the nearest planet to the Sun, Mercury has an important role in showing us how planets form. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars make up the family of terrestrial planets, each carrying information that is essential for tracing the history of the whole group. Knowledge how they originated and evolved is a key to understanding how conditions supporting life arose in the Solar System, and possibly elsewhere. As long as Earth-like planets orbiting other stars remain inaccessible to astronomers, the Solar System is the only laboratory where we can test models applicable to other planetary systems. Exploring Mercury is therefore fundamental to answer important astrophysical and philosophical questions such as 'Are Earth-like planets common in the Galaxy?'
The KFKI RMKI is participating in the realisation of SERENA/PICAM instrument. The SGF Ltd. is developing the Electrical Groung Support Equipment. The SERENA instrument suite (Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances) will study in-situ the composition, the vertical structure and the source of the deposit processes of the exosphere of Mercury. The SERENA consists of four sensors:
- ELENA (Emitted Low-Energy Neutral Atoms) Detection of neutral particles
- MIPA Miniature Ion Precipitation analyzer) Measure of magnetospheric and solar ions fluxes
- PICAM Planetary Ion Camera) Imaging mass spectrometer for planetary origin ions
- STROFINO (Start From A Rotating Field Mass Spectrometer) Thermal and low energy neutral particles spectrometer
* Name BepiColombo is named after Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo (1920-1984), a Italian man who studied Mercury in detail as well as orbits and interplanetary travelling.
BepiColombo mission
