BepiColombo—Comprehensive exploration of Mercury: Mission overview and science goals

Benkhoff, J.; Casteren, J. van; Hayakawa, H.; Fujimoto, M.; Laakso, H.; Novara, M.; Ferri, Paolo; Middleton, H. R.; Ziethe, R.

doi:10.1016/j.pss.2009.09.020

Cited by 423 publications

(276 citation statements)

References 68 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

266

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The methods presented were investigated in preparation for the analysis and interpretation of measurements from the BepiColombo mission to Mercury (Benkhoff et al, 2010). The results show that the precision of the estimated dipole field is much better if the actual solar wind conditions are considered instead of average values.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If in situ spacecraft data are used to estimate the planetary magnetic field, this interaction needs to be taken into account. This is of particular importance for the upcoming two-spacecraft mission BepiColombo (Benkhoff et al, 2010) to planet Mercury because the Hermean magnetosphere is small and very dynamic. The average magnetopause distance at Mercury observed by the MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) mission (Solomon et al, 2001) is about 1.45 R M and the bow shock distance is 1.89 R M , with R M = 2440 km as planetary radius (Winslow et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Estimation of a planetary magnetic field using a reduced magnetohydrodynamic model

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Knowledge of planetary magnetic fields provides deep insights into the structure and dynamics of planets. Due to the interaction of a planet with the solar wind plasma, a rather complex magnetic environment is generated. The situation at planet Mercury is an example of the complexities occurring as this planet's field is rather weak and the magnetosphere rather small. New methods are presented to separate interior and exterior magnetic field contributions which are based on a dynamic inversion approach using a reduced magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model and time-varying spacecraft observations. The methods select different data such as bow shock location information or magnetosheath magnetic field data. Our investigations are carried out in preparation for the upcoming dual-spacecraft BepiColombo mission set out to precisely estimate Mercury's intrinsic magnetic field. To validate our new approaches, we use THEMIS magnetosheath observations to estimate the known terrestrial dipole moment. The terrestrial magnetosheath provides observations from a strongly disturbed magnetic environment, comparable to the situation at Mercury. Statistical and systematic errors are considered and their dependence on the selected data sets are examined. Including time-dependent upstream solar wind variations rather than averaged conditions significantly reduces the statistical error of the estimation. Taking the entire magnetosheath data along the spacecraft's trajectory instead of only the bow shock location into account further improves accuracy of the estimated dipole moment.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of a planetary magnetic field using a reduced magnetohydrodynamic model

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, a global magnetohydrodynamic simulation code can be used instead. The reconstruction of solar wind parameters might be used for the data from the Messenger mission (e.g., Solomon et al, 2007) or the upcoming BepiColombo mission (e.g., Benkhoff et al, 2010) at the planet Mercury. Then, a Mercury magnetosheath model can be examined, even if in situ solar wind observations are not available.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar wind reconstruction from magnetosheath data using an adjoint approach

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. We present a new method to reconstruct solar wind conditions from spacecraft data taken during magnetosheath passages, which can be used to support, e.g., magnetospheric models. The unknown parameters of the solar wind are used as boundary conditions of an MHD (magnetohydrodynamics) magnetosheath model. The boundary conditions are varied until the spacecraft data matches the model predictions. The matching process is performed using a gradientbased minimization of the misfit between data and model. To achieve this time-consuming procedure, we introduce the adjoint of the magnetosheath model, which allows efficient calculation of the gradients. An automatic differentiation tool is used to generate the adjoint source code of the model. The reconstruction method is applied to THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) data to calculate the solar wind conditions during spacecraft magnetosheath transitions. The results are compared to actual solar wind data. This allows validation of our reconstruction method and indicates the limitations of the MHD magnetosheath model used.

show abstract

“…BepiColombo is a JAXA-ESA joint mission to explore Mercury (Benkhoff et al, 2010). It consists of two satellites, Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) and Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), and is planned to be launched in 2014.…”

Section: Bepicolombo Project and Mgf-imentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of fluxgate magnetometers and applications to the space science missions

Matsuoka¹,

Shinohara²,

Tanaka³

et al. 2013

An Introduction to Space Instrumentation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Magnetic field is one of the essential physical parameters to study the space physics and evolution of the solar system. There are several methods to measure the magnetic field in the space by spacecraft and rockets. Fluxgate magnetometer has been most generally used out of them because it measures the vector field accurately and does not need much weight and power budgets. When we try more difficult missions such as multi-satellite observation, landing on the celestial body and exploration in the area of severe environment, we have to modify the magnetometer or develop new techniques to make the instrument adequate for those projects. For example, we developed a 20-bit delta-sigma analogue-to-digital converter for MGF-I on the BepiColombo MMO satellite, to achieve the wide-range (±2000 nT) measurement with good resolution in the high radiation environment. For further future missions, we have examined the digitalizing of the circuit, which has much potential to drastically reduce the instrument weight, power consumption and performance dependence on the temperature. Key words: Magnetometer, magnetic field, space science. Magnet Fields in the SpaceThe magnetic fields in the space are classified into three types according to the generation sources. One is the field having the source inside or on the surface of celestial body, e.g., the Sun, planets and satellites in the solar system. In the cases of the Earth, Mercury and outer planets than Mars, magnetic dynamo is working in the liquid core, and the magnetic moment is placed at the center of the planets. The area where the magnetic field is effective spreads in the range of the planetary scale and is called "magnetosphere". Meanwhile the Moon and Mars do not have significant magnetic moment. There are weakly "magnetized" parts on the surface.The second category is the magnetic field caused by the electric current carried by plasma. For example, in the Earth's magnetosphere, magnetic field lines coming from the Antarctic region or going to the Arctic region are extended in the night direction. This configuration is represented by the summation of the magnetic fields generated by the Earth's intrinsic moment and the field along the SunEarth direction. The latter field is maintained by the electric current flowing from dawn to dusk in the plasmasheet.The third is the inductive field. One of the Maxwell's equation, rotE = −(∂B)/(∂t), represents that the rotation of the electric field is accompanied by the temporal change of the magnetic field.The time scale of the magnetic fields having the source inside or on the surface of the planets is substantially long, although they are not perfectly constant. The polarity of the earth magnetic dipole is known to have changed on the time scale of million years. The magnetic fields generated by the Copyright c TERRAPUB, 2013. electrical currents vary on the relatively short time scale, although the frequency and amplitude depend on the source phenomena. The time and spatial scales of the inductive fields, those are often ob...

show abstract

BepiColombo—Comprehensive exploration of Mercury: Mission overview and science goals

Cited by 423 publications

References 68 publications

Estimation of a planetary magnetic field using a reduced magnetohydrodynamic model

Estimation of a planetary magnetic field using a reduced magnetohydrodynamic model

Solar wind reconstruction from magnetosheath data using an adjoint approach

Development of fluxgate magnetometers and applications to the space science missions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About