BepiColombo cruise science: overview of the

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.

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Title

BepiColombo cruise science: overview of the mission contribution to heliophysics

Author

Sánchez-Cano, Beatriz¹

; Hadid, Lina Z.²

; Aizawa, Sae²

; Murakami, Go³

; Bamba, Yumi⁴

; Chiba, Shota⁵

; Hara, Takuya⁶

; Heyner, Daniel⁷

; Ho, George⁸

; Iwai, Kazumasa⁹

; Kilpua, Emilia¹⁰

; Kinoshita, Gaku¹¹

; Lavraud, Benoit¹²; Miyoshi, Yoshizumi⁹

; Pinto, Marco¹³

; Schmid, Daniel¹⁴

; Shiota, Daikou⁴

; Vainio, Rami¹⁵

; Andre, Nicolas¹⁶

; Aronica, Alessandro¹⁷; Asmar, Sami¹⁸; Auster, Hans-Ulrich⁷; Barabash, Stas¹⁹; Barthe, Alain²⁰; Baumjohann, Wolfgang¹⁴

; Benkhoff, Johannes¹³

; Bentley, Mark²¹

; Bunce, Emma¹

; Cappuccio, Paolo²¹

; Delcourt, Dominique²; di Stefano, Ivan²²

; Doria, Irene²²

; Dresing, Nina¹⁵

; Fedorov, Andrei²⁰; Fischer, David¹⁴

; Fiethe, Bjorn²³; Fränz, Markus²⁴

; Gieseler, Jan¹⁵

; Giner, Franz¹⁴; Giono, Gabriel¹⁴

; Harada, Yuki²⁵; Hussmann, Hauke²⁶

; Iess, Luciano²²

; Imamura, Takeshi²⁷; Jeszenszky, Harald¹⁴; Jones, Geraint¹³

; Katra, Bruno²; Kazakov, Adrian¹⁷; Kozyrev, Alexander²⁸; Laky, Gunter¹⁴; Lefevre, Carlo¹⁷

; Lichtenegger, Herbert¹⁴; Lindsay, Simon¹

; Lucente, Marco¹⁷

; Magnafico, Carmelo¹⁷

; Magnes, Werner¹⁴

; Martindale, Adrian¹; Matsuoka, Ayako²⁹; Milillo, Anna¹⁷

; Mitrofanov, Igor²⁸; Nishiyama, Gaku³⁰

; Oleynik, Philipp¹⁵

; Orsini, Stefano¹⁷; Paik, Meegyeong¹⁸; Palmroos, Christian¹⁵

; Plainaki, Christina³¹; Penou, Emanuel²⁰; Persson, Moa³²

; Quarati, Francesco³³; Quémerais, Eric³⁴

; Richter, Ingo⁷

; Robidel, Rozenn³⁵

; Rojo, Mathias²⁰; Saito, Yoshifumi³; Santoli, Francesco¹⁷

; Stark, Alexander²⁶

; Stumpo, Mirko¹⁷; Tian, Rong¹

; Varsani, Ali¹⁴

; Verdeil, Christopher²⁰; Williamson, Hayley¹⁹

; Witasse, Olivier¹³

; Yokota, Shoichiro³⁶

¹ University of Leicester, School of Physics and Astronomy, Leicester, UK (GRID:grid.9918.9) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8411)
² Université Paris Saclay, Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas (LPP), CNRS, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Université, Palaiseau, France (GRID:grid.483353.a)
³ Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Tokyo, Japan (GRID:grid.62167.34) (ISNI:0000 0001 2220 7916)
⁴ National Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Tokyo, Japan (GRID:grid.28312.3a) (ISNI:0000 0001 0590 0962)
⁵ Nagoya University, Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya, Japan (GRID:grid.27476.30) (ISNI:0000 0001 0943 978X); The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, Tokyo, Japan (GRID:grid.26999.3d) (ISNI:0000 0001 2169 1048)
⁶ University of California, Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, USA (GRID:grid.47840.3f) (ISNI:0000 0001 2181 7878)
⁷ Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institut für Geophysik und extraterrestrische Physik, Brunswick, Germany (GRID:grid.6738.a) (ISNI:0000 0001 1090 0254)
⁸ Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, USA (GRID:grid.201894.6) (ISNI:0000 0001 0321 4125)
⁹ Nagoya University, Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya, Japan (GRID:grid.27476.30) (ISNI:0000 0001 0943 978X)
¹⁰ University of Helsinki, Department of Physics, Helsinki, Finland (GRID:grid.7737.4) (ISNI:0000 0004 0410 2071)
¹¹ The University of Tokyo, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Tokyo, Japan (GRID:grid.26999.3d) (ISNI:0000 0001 2169 1048)
¹² University of Bordeaux, Laboratoire d’astrophysique de Bordeaux, CNRS, Pessac, France (GRID:grid.412041.2) (ISNI:0000 0001 2106 639X)
¹³ European Space Agency, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk, Netherlands (GRID:grid.424669.b) (ISNI:0000 0004 1797 969X)
¹⁴ Austrian Academy of Sciences, Space Research Institute, Graz, Austria (GRID:grid.4299.6) (ISNI:0000 0001 2169 3852)
¹⁵ University of Turku, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Turku, Finland (GRID:grid.1374.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 2097 1371)
¹⁶ Université Toulouse III, Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNRS, CNES, Toulouse, France (GRID:grid.15781.3a) (ISNI:0000 0001 0723 035X); Université de Toulouse, Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (ISAE‐SUPAERO), Toulouse, France (GRID:grid.508721.9) (ISNI:0000 0001 2353 1689)
¹⁷ INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome, Italy (GRID:grid.466835.a) (ISNI:0000 0004 1776 2255)
¹⁸ California Institute of Technology, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, USA (GRID:grid.20861.3d) (ISNI:0000 0001 0706 8890)
¹⁹ Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna, Sweden (GRID:grid.425140.6) (ISNI:0000 0001 0706 1867)
²⁰ Université Toulouse III, Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNRS, CNES, Toulouse, France (GRID:grid.15781.3a) (ISNI:0000 0001 0723 035X)
²¹ European Space Agency, European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain (GRID:grid.450273.7) (ISNI:0000 0004 0623 7009)
²² Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Mechanical and Space Engineering (DIMA), Rome, Italy (GRID:grid.7841.a)
²³ IDA, Brunswick, Germany (GRID:grid.4299.6)
²⁴ Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), Göttingen, Germany (GRID:grid.435826.e) (ISNI:0000 0001 2284 9011)
²⁵ Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan (GRID:grid.258799.8) (ISNI:0000 0004 0372 2033)
²⁶ Institute of Space Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin, Germany (GRID:grid.7551.6) (ISNI:0000 0000 8983 7915)
²⁷ The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, Tokyo, Japan (GRID:grid.26999.3d) (ISNI:0000 0001 2169 1048)
²⁸ Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI), Moscow, Russia (GRID:grid.426428.e) (ISNI:0000 0004 0405 8736)
²⁹ Kyoto University, World Data Center for Geomagnetism, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto, Japan (GRID:grid.258799.8) (ISNI:0000 0004 0372 2033)
³⁰ The University of Tokyo, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Tokyo, Japan (GRID:grid.26999.3d) (ISNI:0000 0001 2169 1048); Institute of Space Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin, Germany (GRID:grid.7551.6) (ISNI:0000 0000 8983 7915)
³¹ Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), Göttingen, Germany (GRID:grid.435826.e) (ISNI:0000 0001 2284 9011); Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), Frascati, Italy (GRID:grid.423784.e) (ISNI:0000 0000 9801 3133)
³² Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, Sweden (GRID:grid.425140.6) (ISNI:0000 0001 0706 1867)
³³ Delft University of Technology, Department of Radiation Science and Technology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft, Netherlands (GRID:grid.5292.c) (ISNI:0000 0001 2097 4740); Gonitec BV, Den Haag, The Netherlands (GRID:grid.5292.c)
³⁴ Université Versailles Saint-Quentin, LATMOS-OVSQ, Guyancourt, France (GRID:grid.12832.3a) (ISNI:0000 0001 2323 0229)
³⁵ European Space Agency, European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain (GRID:grid.450273.7) (ISNI:0000 0004 0623 7009); Université Versailles Saint-Quentin, LATMOS-OVSQ, Guyancourt, France (GRID:grid.12832.3a) (ISNI:0000 0001 2323 0229)
³⁶ Osaka University, Osaka, Japan (GRID:grid.136593.b) (ISNI:0000 0004 0373 3971)

Pages

114

Publication year

2025

Publication date

Dec 2025

Publisher

Springer Nature B.V.

e-ISSN

18805981

Source type

Scholarly Journal

Language of publication

English

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-025-02256-z

ProQuest document ID

3231080182

© The Author(s) 2025. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

BepiColombo cruise science: overview of the mission contribution to heliophysics

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