Journal Article

SERENA: Particle Instrument Suite for Determining the Sun-Mercury Interaction from BepiColombo

Trantham, B., Szalai, S., Leblanc, François, Wurz, P., Killen, R.M., Giner, F., Camozzi, F., Wilson, P., Laky, G., Balaz, J., Livi, S.A., Cantatore, M., Fama, M., Mura, A., Mangano, V., Smith, K., Delva, M., Garnier, P., Phillips, M., Grande, M., Szalai, L., Grishin, V., Moissenko, D., Daglis, I.A., Jeszenszky, H., Cremonesi, L., Gamborino, D., Selci, S., Maschietti, D., Krüger, H., Mattioli, F., Fremuth, G., Svensson, J., Allegrini, F., Ferris, M., Haggerty, D., Lazzarotto, F., Zampieri, S., Bührke, U., Paschalidis, N., Seki, K., McKenna-Lawlor, S., Gibson, W.C., Milillo, A., Loose, A., Miller, G., Dandouras, I., Torkar, K., Desai, M., Aronica, A., Fatemi, S., Sordini, R., Escoubet, C.P., Dong, C., Cibella, S., Brienza, D., Berthelier, J.-J., Plainaki, C., Varsani, A., Orsini, S., Krupp, N., Schmidt, W., Wallner, R., Urdiales, C., Lichtenegger, H., Szego, K., Persyn, S., Toublanc, D., Vaisberg, O., Nuccilli, F., Colasanti, L., Raines, J.M., Kecskemety, K., Fischer, H., Goldstein, R., Kazakov, A., Gurnee, R., Fränz, M., Olivieri, A., Ivanovski, S., Tominetti, F., Lellis, A.M. Di, Gaggero, A., Wieser, M., Leichtfried, M., Piazza, D., Barabash, S., Nilsson,

2021

Overview

The ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury will provide simultaneous measurements from two spacecraft, offering an unprecedented opportunity to investigate magnetospheric and exospheric particle dynamics at Mercury as well as their interactions with solar wind, solar radiation, and interplanetary dust. The particle instrument suite SERENA (Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances) is flying in space on-board the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and is the only instrument for ion and neutral particle detection aboard the MPO. It comprises four independent sensors: ELENA for neutral particle flow detection, Strofio for neutral gas detection, PICAM for planetary ions observations, and MIPA, mostly for solar wind ion measurements. SERENA is managed by a System Control Unit located inside the ELENA box. In the present paper the scientific goals of this suite are described, and then the four units are detailed, as well as their major features and calibration results. Finally, the SERENA operational activities are shown during the orbital path around Mercury, with also some reference to the activities planned during the long cruise phase.

• Publisher: Springer,Springer Netherlands,Springer Nature B.V,Springer Verlag
• Subject: Aerospace Technology and Astronautics / Astrophysics and Astroparticles / Bepi Colombo (ESA) / BepiColombo space mission / Charged particles / Interplanetary dust / Magnetospheres / Mercury / Mercury (planet) / Mercury spacecraft / Mercury’s environment / Neutral gases / Neutral particles / Particle dynamics / Particle instrumentation / Physics / Physics and Astronomy / Planetary orbiters / Planetology / Plasma / Refilling / Sciences of the Universe / Solar radiation / Solar wind / Solar wind ions / Space Exploration and Astronautics / Space missions / Space Sciences (General) / Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics / Spacecraft / The BepiColombo mission to Mercury