TP18 | BepiColombo nears Mercury: Preparing for Orbit Insertion and a New Era of Hermean Exploration

TP18

BepiColombo nears Mercury: Preparing for Orbit Insertion and a New Era of Hermean Exploration

Co-organized by MITM

Convener: Sébastien Besse | Co-conveners: Geraint Jones, Go Murakami, Liam Edwards, Salvatore Buoninfante, Xue Wang, Shunichi Kamata, Martina Moroni, Alessandro Maturilli, Antonio Genova, Sae Aizawa, Gene Schmidt

Abstract submission

The joint ESA/JAXA mission BepiColombo is entering a decisive and historic phase: its long‑awaited arrival at Mercury and orbit insertion in late 2026. Following six successful Mercury flybys, the mission has already delivered valuable new insights into the Hermean environment and demonstrated the strong complementarity between spacecraft observations, modelling, and ground‑based support.

In parallel, decades of investigations from Mariner 10 and MESSENGER observations to advances in laboratory experiments and numerical modelling have profoundly refined our understanding of Mercury’s origin, formation, interior structure, composition, exosphere and magnetosphere. The imminent start of BepiColombo’s orbital operations marks a unique opportunity to integrate these past achievements with the mission’s upcoming scientific phases.

This session aims to bring together the community as we prepare for BepiColombo’s arrival. We invite contributions in planetary, geological, exospheric, and magnetospheric science based on:

existing data from BepiColombo’s cruise phase and flybys,
heritage datasets from Mariner 10 and MESSENGER,
Earth-based observations,
laboratory and experimental studies,
theoretical and numerical modelling across all relevant domains.
With BepiColombo positioned to enter Mercury’s science phase in early 2027, this session is exceptionally timely. By synthesizing diverse perspectives and preparing the community for the mission’s next chapter, we seek to maximize the impact of BepiColombo’s forthcoming observations and advance our global understanding of Mercury during this transformative period.