BepiColombo enters Mercury orbit: 1st since 2015 | Newswise

The BepiColombo spacecraft is scheduled to enter Mercury's orbit on Nov. 21, making it the first two-probe system—and the second probe ever—to orbit the planet closest to the sun. The mission seeks to answer fundamental yet unanswered questions about one of our solar system's least explored planets: Where did Mercury come from?

What is its ultra-thin atmosphere made of, and how was it made? Why does it have a magnetic field, when it seems too small to have one? Why is its metallic core so big and heavy?

And is there really frozen water at its poles? Researchers at University of Michigan Engineering are leading one of the mission's instrument teams and are available for comments. Stefano Livi is a research professor of climate and space sciences and engineering and the principal investigator for BepiColombo's Strofio instrument, which will help identify the molecules in Mercury's ultra-thin atmosphere for the first time.

He can comment on how his team is preparing for BepiColombo's arrival at Mercury, and the subsequent separation of the two probes on Dec. 10. He can also discuss how their instrument will help scientists better understand what's in Mercury's atmosphere, and what its surface is made of.

"We know that the gas enveloping Mercury is very tenuous. As such, it will not be stable as an atmosphere, but will fall back onto the planet. Something must be producing it at all times," Livi said.

"At the same time, this gas is coming from the planet's surface, so it brings an imprint of what the surface itself is made of, and how it's changing. "Strofio will identify the uncharged molecules and elements in the atmosphere to help find out how it behaves, where it comes from and how that affects the surface of the planet." Contact: [email protected] Jim Raines is an associate professor of climate and space sciences and engineering and is leading day-to-day operations of the Strofio instrument.

He also worked as an engineer and scientist for the Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer instrument on NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, the first to orbit Mercury. He can comment on the loose threads that BepiColombo will pick up from MESSENGER, as well as how learning more about Mercury could improve scientists' understanding of other planets, including Earth.

"Mercury is the only other planet with a magnetic environment that's really like Earth's, but it's also different enough that it kind of stretches out and tests our understanding of how Earth's magnetic field works," Raines said. "As we increasingly rely on technology in the space environment, we want to understand how magnetic fields interact with the solar wind blowing from the sun and solar eruptions.

The sun's plasma basically flows energy in and out of the planet's environment that can accelerate particles, a fundamental kind of energy transduction process. I can imagine a distant future in which you could extract some of the energy from that flow." Contact: [email protected]