Initial Results of the Second Mercury Flyby Observation by MPPE (Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment) on BepiClombo/Mio - INSU - Institut national des sciences de l'Univers Accéder directement au contenu
Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2022

Initial Results of the Second Mercury Flyby Observation by MPPE (Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment) on BepiClombo/Mio

Yoshifumi Saito
  • Fonction : Auteur
Masafumi Hirahara
  • Fonction : Auteur
Stanislav V. Barabash
  • Fonction : Auteur
Takeshi Takashima
  • Fonction : Auteur
Kazushi Asamura
  • Fonction : Auteur
Sae Aizawa
Yuki Harada
  • Fonction : Auteur
L. Z. Hadid

Résumé

The Mercury Plasma/Particle Experiment (MPPE) is a comprehensive instrument package on BepiColombo/Mio spacecraft for plasma, high-energy particle and energetic neutral atom measurements. It consists of 7 sensors: two Mercury Electron Analyzers (MEA1 and MEA2), Mercury Ion Analyzer (MIA), Mass Spectrum Analyzer (MSA), High Energy Particle instrument for electron (HEP-ele), High Energy Particle instrument for ion (HEP-ion), and Energetic Neutrals Analyzer (ENA).

Before arriving at Mercury in December 2025, BepiColombo experiences multiple Venus and Mercury flybys. The second Mercury flyby was on 23 June 2022. The closest approach was at an altitude of about 200 km from Mercury's surface, and BepiColombo approached Mercury's magnetosphere from the dusk-side tail, crossed the low-altitude regions in the dawn-side southern hemisphere, and exited the magnetosphere on the dayside in the southern hemisphere.

Although the MOSIF (MMO Sunshield and Interface Structure) blocked most of the MPPE sensor's field of view until arrival at Mercury, all the MPPE sensors except HEP-ion were turned on to observe Mercury's magnetosphere during the Mercury flybys.

During the second Mercury flyby, MEA and MIA succeeded in observing energy spectra of low energy electrons and ions in the Mercury magnetosphere. In-bound and out-bound magnetopause were identified by MEA and MIA, where multiple crossings of the magnetopause were observed at the in-bound magnetopause, and single sharp magnetopause crossing was observed at the out-bound magnetopause. Inverted-V like signatures were observed by MEA in the magnetosphere. MSA also succeeded in observing mass identified ion energy spectra. H+, He+, and He++ were clearly identified while the energy spectra of total ions were consistent with MIA. HEP-ele detected decrease of the high-energy electrons below 190keV around the closest approach that was caused by the blockage of the high energy electrons by the planet Mercury. ENA detected two types of neutral particle signatures: one is neutrals generated by ion impact on the MOSIF and the other is natural neutrals from Mercury magnetosphere. MPPE data obtained during the second Mercury flyby show very active nature of the Mercury magnetosphere.

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Dates et versions

insu-04089870 , version 1 (05-05-2023)

Identifiants

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Yoshifumi Saito, Dominique Delcourt, Nicolas André, Masafumi Hirahara, Stanislav V. Barabash, et al.. Initial Results of the Second Mercury Flyby Observation by MPPE (Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment) on BepiClombo/Mio. AGU Fall Meeting 2022, 2022, à renseigner, Unknown Region. ⟨insu-04089870⟩
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