[P-PS11] Mercury Science and Exploration

Mon. May 25, 2026 1:45 PM - 3:15 PM 303 (International Conference Hall, Makuhari Messe)

Chairperson:Murakami Go(Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)

Mercury, the innermost planet in our Solar System, with its unique features, holds vital clues to understanding the evolution of terrestrial planets and the solar system. NASA's Mariner-10 and MESSENGER missions provided valuable insights but also left outstanding questions. These will soon to be addressed by the joint ESA-JAXA two spacecraft mission, BepiColombo, which is currently en route to Mercury and has already completed all flybys, and the two BepiColombo orbiters will arrive at Mercury in November 2026. This session welcomes contributions on all aspects of Mercury's environment, including its origin, formation, geology, surface composition, interior structure, exosphere, magnetosphere, gravity, and magnetic fi elds, as well as their coupling using various research methods such as modeling, laboratory experiments, and observations (ground-based, remote-sensing, and in-situ). We also encourage early analyses of BepiColombo flyby data and discussions regarding future missions to Mercury.

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Introduction (1:45 PM - 1:50 PM)

1:50 PM - 2:05 PM

[PPS11-01] Updated status and upcoming plans of the BepiColombo mission

*Go Murakami¹, Geraint Jones², Sebastien Besse² (1. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 2. European Space Agency)

2:05 PM - 2:20 PM

[PPS11-02] Magnetic field measurement during cruising and observation plan at Mercury of BepiColombo MIO MGF

*Ayako Matsuoka¹, Daniel Schmid², Wolfgang Baumjohann², Werner Magnes², Hans-Ulrich Auster³, David Fischer², Josef Wilfinger², Yasuhito Narita³, Rumi Nakamura², Manabu Shinohara⁴, Yoshimasa Tanaka⁵, Akiko Fujimoto⁶, Masaki Matsushima⁷, Kazuhiro Yamamoto⁸ (1. Data Analysis Center for Geomagnetism and Space Magnetism, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, 2. The Space Research Institute, OeAW, 3. Technical University of Braunschweig, 4. Kagoshima National College of Technology, 5. National Institute of Polar Research, 6. Kyushu Institute of Technology, 7. Institute of Science Tokyo, 8. Nagoya University)

2:20 PM - 2:45 PM

[PPS11-03] A Survey of Reconnection Layer around Mercury's Magnetopause

I-Hsiang Chiu¹, *Jih-Hong Shue¹, Hiroshi Hasegawa², Yasuhito Narita³, Jun Zhong⁴, Masafumi Hirahara⁵ (1. National Central University, Taiwan, 2. JAXA, Japan, 3. Technical University Braunschweig, Germany, 4. Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, 5. Nagoya University, Japan)

2:45 PM - 3:00 PM

[PPS11-04] Ion bursts in Mercury’s Magnetotail during BepiColombo’s second flyby

*Akimasa Ieda¹, Yuki Harada¹, Yoshifumi Saito², Hiroshi Hasegawa², Shoichiro Yokota³, Wataru Miyake⁴, Go Murakami² (1. Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, 2. Institute of space and astronautical sicence, 3. Osaka university, 4. Tokai university)

3:00 PM - 3:15 PM

[PPS11-05] A Statistical Study of the Dependence of Magnetic Field and Proton Structures in Mercury’s Magnetotail on Upstream IMF Directions

*Tomoki Mori¹, Yuki Harada², Ayako Matsuoka³, Sae Aizawa⁴, Weijie Sun⁵, Charles F. Bowers⁶ (1. Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, 2. ISEE, Nagoya University, 3. Data Analysis Center for Geomagnetism and Space Magnetism, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, 4. Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, 5. University of California, Berkeley, 6. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies)

Session information