Earth, Planets and Space (Jul 2025)
BepiColombo cruise science: overview of the mission contribution to heliophysics
- Beatriz Sánchez-Cano,
- Lina Z. Hadid,
- Sae Aizawa,
- Go Murakami,
- Yumi Bamba,
- Shota Chiba,
- Takuya Hara,
- Daniel Heyner,
- George Ho,
- Kazumasa Iwai,
- Emilia Kilpua,
- Gaku Kinoshita,
- Benoit Lavraud,
- Yoshizumi Miyoshi,
- Marco Pinto,
- Daniel Schmid,
- Daikou Shiota,
- Rami Vainio,
- Nicolas Andre,
- Alessandro Aronica,
- Sami Asmar,
- Hans-Ulrich Auster,
- Stas Barabash,
- Alain Barthe,
- Wolfgang Baumjohann,
- Johannes Benkhoff,
- Mark Bentley,
- Emma Bunce,
- Paolo Cappuccio,
- Dominique Delcourt,
- Ivan di Stefano,
- Irene Doria,
- Nina Dresing,
- Andrei Fedorov,
- David Fischer,
- Bjorn Fiethe,
- Markus Fränz,
- Jan Gieseler,
- Franz Giner,
- Gabriel Giono,
- Yuki Harada,
- Hauke Hussmann,
- Luciano Iess,
- Takeshi Imamura,
- Harald Jeszenszky,
- Geraint Jones,
- Bruno Katra,
- Adrian Kazakov,
- Alexander Kozyrev,
- Gunter Laky,
- Carlo Lefevre,
- Herbert Lichtenegger,
- Simon Lindsay,
- Marco Lucente,
- Carmelo Magnafico,
- Werner Magnes,
- Adrian Martindale,
- Ayako Matsuoka,
- Anna Milillo,
- Igor Mitrofanov,
- Gaku Nishiyama,
- Philipp Oleynik,
- Stefano Orsini,
- Meegyeong Paik,
- Christian Palmroos,
- Christina Plainaki,
- Emanuel Penou,
- Moa Persson,
- Francesco Quarati,
- Eric Quémerais,
- Ingo Richter,
- Rozenn Robidel,
- Mathias Rojo,
- Yoshifumi Saito,
- Francesco Santoli,
- Alexander Stark,
- Mirko Stumpo,
- Rong Tian,
- Ali Varsani,
- Christopher Verdeil,
- Hayley Williamson,
- Olivier Witasse,
- Shoichiro Yokota
Affiliations
- Beatriz Sánchez-Cano
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester
- Lina Z. Hadid
- Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas (LPP), CNRS, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Saclay
- Sae Aizawa
- Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas (LPP), CNRS, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Saclay
- Go Murakami
- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
- Yumi Bamba
- National Institute of Information and Communication Technology
- Shota Chiba
- Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University
- Takuya Hara
- Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California
- Daniel Heyner
- Institut für Geophysik und extraterrestrische Physik, Technische Universität Braunschweig
- George Ho
- Southwest Research Institute
- Kazumasa Iwai
- Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University
- Emilia Kilpua
- Department of Physics, University of Helsinki
- Gaku Kinoshita
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo
- Benoit Lavraud
- Laboratoire d’astrophysique de Bordeaux, CNRS, University of Bordeaux
- Yoshizumi Miyoshi
- Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University
- Marco Pinto
- European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), European Space Agency
- Daniel Schmid
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences
- Daikou Shiota
- National Institute of Information and Communication Technology
- Rami Vainio
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku
- Nicolas Andre
- Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNRS, CNES, Université Toulouse III
- Alessandro Aronica
- INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
- Sami Asmar
- NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
- Hans-Ulrich Auster
- Institut für Geophysik und extraterrestrische Physik, Technische Universität Braunschweig
- Stas Barabash
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics
- Alain Barthe
- Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNRS, CNES, Université Toulouse III
- Wolfgang Baumjohann
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences
- Johannes Benkhoff
- European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), European Space Agency
- Mark Bentley
- European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), European Space Agency
- Emma Bunce
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester
- Paolo Cappuccio
- European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), European Space Agency
- Dominique Delcourt
- Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas (LPP), CNRS, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Saclay
- Ivan di Stefano
- Department of Mechanical and Space Engineering (DIMA), Sapienza University of Rome
- Irene Doria
- Department of Mechanical and Space Engineering (DIMA), Sapienza University of Rome
- Nina Dresing
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku
- Andrei Fedorov
- Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNRS, CNES, Université Toulouse III
- David Fischer
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences
- Bjorn Fiethe
- IDA
- Markus Fränz
- Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS)
- Jan Gieseler
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku
- Franz Giner
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences
- Gabriel Giono
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences
- Yuki Harada
- Kyoto University
- Hauke Hussmann
- German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Space Research
- Luciano Iess
- Department of Mechanical and Space Engineering (DIMA), Sapienza University of Rome
- Takeshi Imamura
- Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo
- Harald Jeszenszky
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences
- Geraint Jones
- European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), European Space Agency
- Bruno Katra
- Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas (LPP), CNRS, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Saclay
- Adrian Kazakov
- INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
- Alexander Kozyrev
- Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI)
- Gunter Laky
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences
- Carlo Lefevre
- INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
- Herbert Lichtenegger
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences
- Simon Lindsay
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester
- Marco Lucente
- INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
- Carmelo Magnafico
- INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
- Werner Magnes
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences
- Adrian Martindale
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester
- Ayako Matsuoka
- World Data Center for Geomagnetism, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University
- Anna Milillo
- INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
- Igor Mitrofanov
- Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI)
- Gaku Nishiyama
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo
- Philipp Oleynik
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku
- Stefano Orsini
- INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
- Meegyeong Paik
- NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
- Christian Palmroos
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku
- Christina Plainaki
- Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS)
- Emanuel Penou
- Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNRS, CNES, Université Toulouse III
- Moa Persson
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics
- Francesco Quarati
- Department of Radiation Science and Technology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology
- Eric Quémerais
- LATMOS-OVSQ, Université Versailles Saint-Quentin
- Ingo Richter
- Institut für Geophysik und extraterrestrische Physik, Technische Universität Braunschweig
- Rozenn Robidel
- European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), European Space Agency
- Mathias Rojo
- Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNRS, CNES, Université Toulouse III
- Yoshifumi Saito
- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
- Francesco Santoli
- INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
- Alexander Stark
- German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Space Research
- Mirko Stumpo
- INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
- Rong Tian
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester
- Ali Varsani
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences
- Christopher Verdeil
- Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNRS, CNES, Université Toulouse III
- Hayley Williamson
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics
- Olivier Witasse
- European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), European Space Agency
- Shoichiro Yokota
- Osaka University
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-025-02256-z
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 77,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 30
Abstract
Abstract BepiColombo, the joint ESA/JAXA mission to Mercury, was launched in October 2018 and is scheduled to arrive at Mercury in November 2026 after an 8-year cruise. Like other planetary missions, its scientific objectives focus mostly on the nominal, orbiting phase of the mission. However, due to the long duration of the cruise phase covering distances between 1.2 and 0.3 AU, the BepiColombo mission has been able to outstandingly contribute to characterise the solar wind and transient events encountered by the spacecraft, as well as planetary environments during the flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury, and contribute to the characterisation of the space radiation environment in the inner Solar System and its evolution with solar activity. In this paper, we provide an overview of the cruise observations of BepiColombo, highlighting the most relevant science cases, with the aim of demonstrating the importance of planetary missions to perform cruise observations, to contribute to a broader understanding of Space Weather in the Solar System, and in turn, increase the scientific return of the mission. Graphical Abstract
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