[P-PS04] Mercury Science and Exploration

[PPS04-01] Overview and initial results of BepiColombo Mercury flybys

*Go Murakami¹, Geraint Jones² (1.Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 2.European Space Agency)

Keywords:Mercury, Magnetosphere, Exosphere, Planetary Science

The ESA-JAXA joint mission BepiColombo is still on the track to Mercury. The two spacecraft for BepiColombo, Mio (Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter: MMO) and Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), are combined with MMO Sun Shield (MOSIF) and Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) during the cruise phase. BepiColombo will arrive at Mercury in November 2026, and it has 8-years cruise with the heliocentric distance range of 0.3-1.2 AU. The long cruise phase also includes 9 planetary flybys: once at the Earth, twice at Venus, and 6 times at Mercury. On 8 January 2025 we completed the last (6th) Mercury flyby successfully. Even before arrival, we already obtained fruitful science data from Mercury during the Mercury flybys. We performed science observations with almost all the instruments onboard Mio and successfully obtained comprehensive data of Mercury’s magnetosphere such as magnetic fields, plasma particles, and waves. Here we present the overview and initial results of the science observations during the Mercury flybys.