Coordinated observations for inner heliospheric science: contribution by the BepiColombo mission

In the 2020s we are entering a golden age of inner heliosphere science. International Mercury exploration mission BepiColombo was launched in 2018 and will arrive at Mercury in 2025. During the interplanetary cruise phase, BepiColombo will range from 1.2 AU to 0.3 AU, and will stay in the inner heliosphere for long time. BepiColombo started its science observations during the interplanetary cruise phase in 2020. The initial results showed its enough performance to observe solar wind electrons, IMF, and solar energetic particles (SEPs) even in the composite spacecraft configuration. Especially in 2021 two spacecraft of BepiColombo, Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Mercury Magnetosphere Orbiter (Mio), successfully detected many SEP events. BepiColombo can contribute to leading and expanding the heliospheric system science. In addition to BepiColombo, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and ESA’s Solar Orbiter are also exploring the inner heliosphere. Coordinated observations between these multi spacecraft have been planned and performed. In March 2021, we also coordinated a joint observation campaign of the solar corona and solar wind with BepiColombo, Akatsuki, and Hinode. These coordinated observations/analysis with multi spacecraft, ground-based observations, and numerical simulations can give us great opportunities to address outstanding questions in heliophysics. Here we Here we present the overview and updated status of BepiColombo and the coordinated science observations.