Abstract
Mercury has a unique and complex space environment with its weak global magnetic field, intense solar wind, tenuous exosphere, and magnetospheric plasma particles. This complex system makes Mercury an excellent science target to understand effects of the solar wind to planetary environments. In addition, investigating Mercury’s dynamic magnetosphere also plays a key role to understand extreme exoplanetary environment and its habitability conditions against strong stellar winds. BepiColombo, a joint mission to Mercury by the European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will address remaining open questions using two spacecraft, Mio and the Mercury Planetary Orbiter. Mio is a spin-stabilized spacecraft designed to investigate Mercury’s space environment, with a powerful suite of plasma instruments, a spectral imager for the exosphere, and a dust monitor. Because of strong constraints on operations during its orbiting phase around Mercury, sophisticated observation and downlink plans are required in order to maximize science outputs. This paper gives an overview of the Mio spacecraft and its mission, operations plan, and data handling and archiving.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
V. Angelopoulos, P. Cruce, A. Drozdov, E.W. Grimes, N. Hatzigeorgiu, D.A. King, D. Larson, J.W. Lewis, J.M. McTiernan, D.A. Roberts, C.L. Russell, T. Hori, Y. Kasahara, A. Kumamoto, A. Matsuoka, Y. Miyashita, Y. Miyoshi, I. Shinohara, M. Teramoto, J.B. Faden, A.J. Halford, M. McCarthy, R.M. Millan, J.G. Sample, D.M. Smith, L.A. Woodger, A. Masson, A.A. Narock, K. Asamura, T.F. Chang, C.-Y. Chiang, Y. Kazama, K. Keika, S. Matsuda, T. Segawa, K. Seki, M. Shoji, S.W.Y. Tam, N. Umemura, B.-J. Wang, S.-Y. Wang, R. Redmon, J.V. Rodriguez, H.J. Singer, J. Vandegriff, S. Abe, M. Nose, A. Shinbori, Y.-M. Tanaka, S. UeNo, L. Andersson, P. Dunn, C. Fowler, J.S. Halekas, T. Hara, Y. Harada, C.O. Lee, R. Lillis, D.L. Mitchell, M.R. Argall, K. Bromund, J.L. Burch, I.J. Cohen, M. Galloy, B. Giles, A.N. Jaynes, O. Le Contel, M. Oka, T.D. Phan, B.M. Walsh, J. Westlake, F.D. Wilder, S.D. Bale, R. Livi, M. Pulupa, P. Whittlesey, A. DeWolfe, B. Harter, E. Lucas, U. Auster, J.W. Bonnell, C.M. Cully, E. Donovan, R.E. Ergun, H.U. Frey, B. Jackel, A. Keiling, H. Korth, J.P. McFadden, Y. Nishimura, F. Plaschke, P. Robert, D.L. Turner, J.M. Weygand, R.M. Candey, R.C. Johnson, T. Kovalick, M.H. Liu, R.E. McGuire, A. Breneman, K. Kersten, P. Schroeder, The space physics environment data analysis system (SPEDAS) Space Sci. Rev. 215, 9 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-018-0576-4
W. Baumjohann, A. Matsuoka, W. Magnes, K.-H. Glassmeier, R. Nakamura, H. Biernat, M. Delva, K. Schwingenschuh, T. Zhang, H.-U. Auster, K.-H. Fornacon, I. Richter, A. Balogh, P. Cargill, C. Carr, M. Dougherty, T.S. Horbury, E.A. Lucek, F. Tohyama, T. Takahashi, M. Tanaka, T. Nagai, H. Tsunakawa, M. Matsushima, H. Kawano, A. Yoshikawa, H. Shibuya, T. Nakagawa, M. Hoshino, Y. Tanaka, R. Kataoka, B.J. Anderson, C.T. Russell, U. Motschmann, M. Shinohara, Magnetic field investigation of Mercury’s magnetosphere and the inner heliosphere by MMO/MGF. Planet. Space Sci. 58(1–2), 279–286 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2008.05.019
W. Baumjohann, A. Matsuoka, Y. Narita, W. Magnes, D. Heyner, K.-H. Glassmeier, R. Nakamura, D. Fischer, F. Plaschke, M. Volwerk, T.L. Zhang, H.-U. Auster, I. Richter, A. Balogh, C. Carr, M. Dougherty, T.S. Horbury, H. Tsunakawa, M. Matsushima, M. Shinohara, H. Shibuya, T. Nakagawa, M. Hoshino, Y. Tanaka, B.J. Anderson, C.T. Russell, U. Motschmann, F. Takahashi, A. Fujimoto, The BepiColombo-Mio magnetometer en route to Mercury. Space Sci. Rev. (2020, this issue)
J. Benkhoff, J. van Casteren, H. Hayakawa, M. Fujimoto, H. Laakso, M. Novara, P. Ferri, H.R. Middleton, R. Ziethe, BepiColombo—comprehensive exploration of Mercury: mission overview and science goals. Planet. Space Sci. 58(1–2), 2–20 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2009.09.020
J. Benkhoff, S. Besse, H. Hayakawa, G. Murakami, M. Novara, U. Reininghaus, D. Stramaccioni, O. Sutherland, J. Zender, The BepiColombo team, BepiColombo - mission overview and science goals. Space Sci. Rev. (2020, this issue)
J.L. Burch, T.E. Moore, R.B. Torbert, B.L. Giles, Magnetospheric multiscale overview and science objectives. Space Sci. Rev. 199(1), 5–21 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-015-0164-9
T.A. Cassidy, A.W. Merkel, M.H. Burger, W.E. McClintock, R.M. Killen, M. Sarantos, A.L. Sprague, R.J. Vervack Jr., S.C. Solomon, Mercury’s seasonal sodium exosphere: MESSENGER orbital observations. Icarus 248, 547–559 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2014.10.037
R.M. Dewey, J.M. Raines, W. Sun, J.A. Slavin, G. Poh, MESSENGER observations of fast plasma flows in Mercury’s magnetotail. Geophys. Res. Lett. 45, 10,110–10,118 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079056
C. Dong, M. Lingam, Y.J. Ma, O. Cohen, Is Proxima Centauri B habitable? A study of atmospheric loss. Astrophys. J. Lett. 837, L26 (2017)
C. Dong, M. Jin, M. Lingam, V.S. Airapetian, Y.J. Ma, B. van der Holst, Atmospheric escape from the TRAPPIST-1 planets and implications for habitability. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 115, 260–265 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1708010115
N.J. Fox, M.C. Velli, S.D. Bale, R. Decker, A. Driesman, R.A. Howard, J.C. Kasper, J. Kinnison, M. Kusterer, D. Lario, M.K. Lockwood, D.J. McComas, N.E. Raouafi, A. Szabo, The Solar Probe Plus mission: humanity’s first visit to our star. Space Sci. Rev. 204(1–4), 7–48 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-015-0211-6
M. Gillon, A.H.M.J. Triaud, B.-O. Demory, E. Jehin, E. Agol, K.M. Deck, S.M. Lederer, J. de Wit, A. Burdanov, J.G. Ingalls, E. Bolmont, J. Leconte, S.N. Raymond, F. Selsis, M. Turbet, K. Barkaoui, A. Burgasser, M.R. Burleigh, S.J. Carey, A.C.C.M. Chaushev, L. Delrez, C.S. Fernandes, D.L. Holdsworth, E.J. Kotze, V. Van Grootel, Y. Almleaky, Z. Benkhaldoun, P. Magain, D. Queloz, Seven temperate terrestrial planets around the nearby ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1. Nature 542(7642), 456–460 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21360
H. Hayakawa, Y. Kasaba, H. Yamakawa, H. Ogawa, T. Mukai, The BepiColombo/MMO model payload and operation plan. Adv. Space Res. 33(12), 2142–2146 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0273-1177(03)00438-1
Y. Kasaba, J.-L. Bougeret, L.G. Blomberg, H. Kojima, S. Yagitani, M. Moncuquet, J.-G. Trotignon, G. Chanteur, A. Kumamoto, Y. Kasahara, J. Lichtenberger, Y. Omura, K. Ishisaka, H. Matsumoto, The plasma wave investigation (PWI) onboard the BepiColombo/MMO: first measurement of electric fields, electromagnetic waves, and radio waves around Mercury. Planet. Space Sci. 58(1–2), 238–278 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2008.07.017
Y. Kasaba, H. Kojima, M. Moncuquet, J.-E. Wahlund, S. Yagitani, F. Sahraoui, P. Henri, T. Karlsson, Y. Kasahara, A. Kumamoto, K. Ishisaka, K. Issautier, G. Wattieaux, T. Imachi, S. Matsuda, J. Lichtenberger, H. Usui, Plasma Wave Investigation (PWI) aboard BepiColombo Mio on the trip to the first measurement of electric fields, electromagnetic waves, and radio waves around Mercury. Space Sci. Rev. 216(4), 65 (2020a). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00692-9
Y. Kasaba, T. Takashima, S. Matsuda, S. Eguchi, M. Endo, T. Miyabara, M. Taeda, Y. Kuroda, Y. Kasahara, T. Imachi, H. Kojima, S. Yagitani, M. Moncuquet, J.-E. Wahlund, A. Kumamoto, A. Matsuoka, W. Baumjohann, S. Yokota, K. Asamura, Y. Saito, D. Delcourt, M. Hirahara, S. Barabash, N. Andre, M. Kobayashi, I. Yoshikawa, G. Murakami, H. Hayakawa, Mission Data Processor aboard the BepiColombo Mio spacecraft: design and scientific operation concept. Space Sci. Rev. 216, 34 (2020b). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00658-x
Kobayashi, M.H. Shibata, K. Nogami, M. Fujii, T. Hirai, S. Hasegawa, M. Hirabayashi, T. Iwai, H. Kimura, T. Miyachi, M. Nakamura, H. Ohashi, S. Sasaki, S. Takechi, H. Yano, S.R. Srama, H. Krüger, P. Strub, A.-K. Lohse, E. Grün, Mercury Dust Monitor (MDM) onboard the Mio orbiter of the BepiColombo mission. Space Sci. Rev. (2020, this issue)
H. Korth, C.L. Johnson, L. Philpott, N.A. Tsyganenko, B.J. Anderson, A dynamic model of Mercury’s magnetospheric magnetic field. Geophys. Res. Lett. 44(20), 10,147–10,154 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074699
D.J. Lawrence, B.J. Anderson, D.N. Baker, W.C. Feldman, G.C. Ho, H. Korth, R.L. McNutt, P.N. Peplowski, S.C. Solomon, R.D. Starr, J.D. Vandegriff, R.M. Winslow, Comprehensive survey of energetic electron events in Mercury’s magnetosphere with data from the MESSENGER Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer. J. Geophys. Res. 120, 2851–2876 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JA020792
S.T. Lindsay, M.K. James, E.J. Bunce, S.M. Imber, H. Korth, A. Martindale, T.K. Yeoman, MESSENGER X-ray observations of magnetosphere-surface interaction on the nightside of Mercury. Planet. Space Sci. 125, 72–79 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2016.03.005
V. Mangano et al., BepiColombo science investigations during cruise and during flybys at the Earth, Venus and Mercury. Space Sci. Rev. (2020, this issue)
B.H. Mauk, N.J. Fox, S.G. Kanekal, R.L. Kessel, D.G. Sibeck, A. Ukhorskiy, Science objectives and rationale for the Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission. Space Sci. Rev. 179(1), 3–27 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-012-9908-y
W.E. McClintock, R.J. Vervack Jr., E.T. Bradley, R.M. Killen, A.L. Sprague, N.R. Izenberg, Mercury’s exosphere: observations MESSENGER’s first Mercury flyby. Science 321, 92–94 (2008)
W.E. McClintock, R.J. Vervack Jr., E.T. Bradley, R.M. Killen, N. Mouawad, A.L. Sprague, M.H. Burger, S.C. Solomon, N.R. Izenberg, Mercury’s exosphereduring MESSENGER’s second flyby: detection of magnesium and distinct distributions of neutral species. Science 324, 610–613 (2009)
A. Milillo, P. Wurz, S. Orsini, D. Delcourt, E. Kallio, R.M. Killen, H. Lammer, S. Massetti, A. Mura, S. Barabash, G. Cremonese, I.A. Daglis, E. Angelis, A.M. Lellis, S. Livi, V. Mangano, K. Torkar, Surface-exosphere-magnetosphere system of Mercury. Space Sci. Rev. 117(3–4), 397–443 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-005-3593-z
A. Milillo, M. Fujimoto, G. Murakami, J. Benkhoff, J. Zender, S. Aizawa, M. Dósa, L. Griton, D. Heyner, G. Ho, S.M. Imber, X. Jia, T. Karlsson, R.M. Killen, M. Laurenza, S.T. Lindsay, S. McKenna-Lawlor, A. Mura, J.M. Raines, D.A. Rothery, N. André, W. Baumjohann, A. Berezhnoy, P.A. Bourdin, E.J. Bunce, F. Califano, J. Deca, S. de la Fuente, C. Dong, C. Grava, S. Fatemi, P. Henri, S.L. Ivanovski, B.V. Jackson, M. James, E. Kallio, Y. Kasaba, E. Kilpua, M. Kobayashi, B. Langlais, F. Leblanc, C. Lhotka, V. Mangano, A. Martindale, S. Massetti, A. Masters, M. Morooka, Y. Narita, J.S. Oliveira, D. Odstrcil, S. Orsini, M.G. Pelizzo, C. Plainaki, F. Plaschke, F. Sahraoui, K. Seki, J.A. Slavin, R. Vainio, P. Wurz, S. Barabash, C.M. Carr, D. Delcourt, K.-H. Glassmeier, M.N. Grande, M. Hirahara, J. Huovelin, O. Korablev, H. Kojima, H. Lichtenegger, S. Livi, A. Matsuoka, R. Moissl, M. Moncuquet, K. Muinonen, E. Quèmerais, Y. Saito, S. Yagitani, I. Yoshikawa, J.-E. Wahlund, Investigating Mercury’s environment with the two-spacecraft BepiColombo mission. Space Sci. Rev. 216, 93 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00712-8. This issue
Y. Miyoshi, I. Shinohara, T. Takashima, K. Asamura, N. Higashio, T. Mitani, S. Kasahara, S. Yokota, Y. Kazama, S-Y. Wang, P. Ho, Y. Kasahara, Y. Kasaba, S. Yagitani, A. Matsuoka, H. Kojima, Y. Katoh, K. Shiokawa, K. Seki, Geospace exploration project ERG. Earth Planets Space 70, 101 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-018-0862-0
Y. Miyoshi, T. Hori, M. Shoji, M. Teramoto, T.F. Chang, T. Segawa, N. Umemura, S. Matsuda, S. Kurita, K. Keika, Y. Miyashita, K. Seki, Y. Tanaka, N. Nishitani, S. Kasahara, S. Yokota, A. Matsuoka, Y. Kasahara, K. Asamura, T. Takashima, I. Shinohara, The ERG Science Center Earth Planets Space 70, 96 (2018b). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-018-0867-8
E. Montagnon, C. Steiger, F. Budnik, T. Seki, G. Murakami, M. Ogawa, M. Yamashita, M. Casale, BepiColombo ground segment and mission operations. Space Sci. Rev. (2020, this issue)
D. Müller, R.G. Marsden, O.C.St. Cyr, H.R. Gilbert, Solar orbiter-exploring the Sun-heliosphere connection. Sol. Phys. 285(1–2), 25–70 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-012-0085-7
A. Mura, P. Wurz, J. Schneider, H. Lammer, J.-M. Grießmeier, M.L. Khodachenko, J. Weingrill, E. Guenther, J. Cabrera, A. Erikson, M. Fridlund, A. Milillo, H. Rauer, Ph. von Paris, Comet-like Na and Ca exospheres of hot rocky exoplanets: possible implications for Corot-7b. Icarus 211(1), 1–9 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2010.08.015
G. Murakami, I. Yoshikawa, S. Kameda, O. Korablev, V. Kottsov, M. Kuwabara, T. Sato, Y. Suzuki, K. Yoshioka, A. Tavrov, Mercury Sodium Atmosphere Spectral Imager (MSASI) onboard the BepiColombo/Mio spacecraft: overviews, calibrated performances, and observation plans. Space Sci. Rev. (2020, this issue)
K. Nogami, M. Fujii, H. Ohashi, T. Miyachi, S. Sasaki, S. Hasegawa, H. Yano, H. Shibata, T. Iwai, S. Minami, S. Takechi, E. Grün, R. Srama, Development of the Mercury dust monitor (MDM) onboard the BepiColombo mission. Planet. Space Sci. 58(1–2), 108–115 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2008.08.016
T. Nomura, Y. Sekiguchi, T. Kato, On the scientific information retrieval and integrated utilization system, in Proceedings of Symposium on Scientific Satellites, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (1983), pp. 37–40
Y. Saito, J.A. Sauvaud, M. Hirahara, S. Barabash, D. Delcourt, T. Takashima, K. Asamura (BepiColombo MMO/MPPE Team), Scientific objectives and instrumentation of Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment (MPPE) onboard MMO. Planet. Space Sci. 58(1–2), 182–200 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2008.06.003
Y. Saito, D. Delcourt, M. Hirahara, S. Barabash, N. Andre, T. Takashima, K. Asamura, S. Yokota, M.N. Nishino, J.-A. Sauvaud, C. Aoustin, A. Barthe, A. Cadu, A. Fedorov, A.-M. Frezoul, C. Garat, E. Le Comte, Q.-M. Lee, J.-L. Medale, D. Moirin, E. Penou, M. Petiot, G. Peyre, J. Rouzaud, H.-C. Seran, W. Miyake, I. Shinohara, H. Hasegawa, K. Seki, A. Coates, F. Leblanc, C. Verdeil, B. Katra, D. Fontaine, J.-M. Illiano, J.-J. Berthelier, M. Fraenz, H. Fischer, N. Krupp, H. Krueger, B. Fiethe, H. Michalik, T. Mitani, W.-H. Ip, M. Hoshino, M. Fujimoto, N. Terada, Y. Harada, K. Keika, Pre-flight calibration and near-Earth commissioning results of Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment. (MPPE) onboard MMO (Mio). Space Sci. Rev. (2020, this issue)
J.A. Slavin, B.J. Anderson, D.N. Baker, M. Benna, S.A. Boardsen, G. Gloeckler, R.E. Gold, G.C. Ho, H. Korth, S.M. Krimigis, R.L. McNutt, L.R. Nittler, J.M. Raines, M. Sarantos, D. Schriver, S.C. Solomon, R.D. Starr, P.M. Trávníček, M. Pavel, T.H. Zurbuchen, MESSENGER observations of extreme loading and unloading of Mercury’s magnetic tail. Science 329(5992), 665–668 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1188067
S.C. Solomon, R.L. McNutt, R.E. Gold, D.L. Domingue, MESSENGER mission overview. Space Sci. Rev. 131(1–4), 3–39 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-007-9247-6
H. Yamakawa, H. Ogawa, Y. Sone, H. Hayakawa, Y. Kasaba, T. Takashima, T. Mukai, T. Tanaka, M. Adachi, BepiColombo Mercury magnetospheric orbiter design. Acta Astronaut. 62, 699–705 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2008.01.040
I. Yoshikawa, O. Korablev, S. Kameda, D. Rees, H. Nozawa, S. Okano, V. Gnedykh, V. Kottsov, K. Yoshioka, G. Murakami, F. Ezawa, G. Cremonese, The Mercury sodium atmospheric spectral imager for the MMO spacecraft of Bepi-Colombo. Planet. Space Sci. 58(1–2), 224–227 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2008.07.008
I. Yoshikawa, K. Yoshioka, G. Murakami, A. Yamazaki, F. Tsuchiya, M. Kagitani, T. Sakanoi, N. Terada, T. Kimura, M. Kuwabara, K. Fujiwara, T. Hamaguchi, H. Tadokoro, Extreme ultraviolet radiation measurement for planetary atmospheres/magnetospheres from the Earth-orbiting spacecraft (extreme ultraviolet spectroscope for exospheric dynamics: EXCEED). Space Sci. Rev. 184(1), 237–258 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-014-0077-z
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express sincere appreciation to all the members in the PI teams, the Mio science working group, the project teams of JAXA and ESA, and the industries for their long contributions to science managements, spacecraft developments, testing, and operations planning. Especially the authors would like to thank Dr. Hiroshi Yamakawa, Dr. Toshifumi Mukai, Dr. Hiroshi Matsumoto, Dr. Jean-Louis Bougeret, Dr. Lars Blomberg, Dr. Ken’ichi Nogami, Dr. Hiromi Shibata, and Dr. Jean-Andre Sauvaud for their efforts to the mission from the beginning.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
The BepiColombo mission to Mercury
Edited by Johannes Benkhoff, Go Murakami and Ayako Matsuoka
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Murakami, G., Hayakawa, H., Ogawa, H. et al. Mio—First Comprehensive Exploration of Mercury’s Space Environment: Mission Overview. Space Sci Rev 216, 113 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00733-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00733-3