Science Goals and Mission Concept for a Landed Investigation of Mercury
| dc.contributor.author | Ernst, Carolyn M. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Chabot, Nancy L. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Klima, Rachel L. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Kubota, Sanae | |
| dc.contributor.author | Goossens, Sander | |
| dc.contributor.author | et al | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-04-13T13:21:43Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-04-13T13:21:43Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022-03-25 | |
| dc.description | Authors: Carolyn M. Ernst, Nancy L. Chabot, Rachel L. Klima, Sanae Kubota, Gabe Rogers, Paul K. Byrne,, Steven A. Hauck II, Kathleen E. Vander Kaaden, Ronald J. Vervack Jr., Sébastien Besse, David T. Blewett, Brett W. Denevi, Sander Goossens,, Stephen J. Indyk, Noam R. Izenberg, Catherine L. Johnson,, Lauren M. Jozwiak, Haje Korth, Ralph L. McNutt Jr., Scott L. Murchie, Patrick N. Peplowski, Jim M. Raines, Elizabeth B. Rampe, Michelle S. Thompson and Shoshana Z. Weider | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | Mercury holds valuable clues to the distribution of elements at the birth of the solar system and how planets form and evolve in close proximity to their host stars. This Mercury Lander mission concept returns in situ measurements that address fundamental science questions raised by the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission's pioneering exploration of Mercury. Such measurements are needed to understand Mercury's unique mineralogy and geochemistry, characterize the proportionally massive core's structure, measure the planet's active and ancient magnetic fields at the surface, investigate the processes that alter the surface and produce the exosphere, and provide ground truth for remote data sets. The mission concept achieves one full Mercury year (∼88 Earth days) of surface operations with an 11-instrument, high-heritage payload delivered to a landing site within Mercury's widely distributed low-reflectance material, and it addresses science goals encompassing geochemistry, geophysics, the Mercury space environment, and geology. The spacecraft launches in 2035, and the four-stage flight system uses a solar electric propulsion cruise stage to reach Mercury in 2045. Landing is at dusk to meet thermal requirements, permitting ∼30 hr of sunlight for initial observations. The radioisotope-powered lander continues operations through the Mercury night. Direct-to-Earth communication is possible for the initial 3 weeks of landed operations, drops out for 6 weeks, and resumes for the final month. Thermal conditions exceed lander operating temperatures shortly after sunrise, ending operations. Approximately 11 GB of data are returned to Earth. The cost estimate demonstrates that a Mercury Lander mission is feasible and compelling as a New Frontiers–class mission. | en_US |
| dc.description.sponsorship | The Mercury Lander study was supported by the NASA Planetary Mission Concept Study Program grant 80NSSC20K0122 to C.M.E. We thank the APL-based engineering and report development teams for their hard work and dedication to this study, especially under trying circumstances. We thank Dean Bergman, David Blake, Thomas Bristow, Bob Downs, David Lawrence, Ralph Lorenz, Francis McCubbin, Dick Morris, Philippe Sarrazin, and Kris Zacny for their helpful discussions on the instruments considered for the payload. We also thank Larry Nittler and Bernard Charlier for their thoughtful reviews and Faith Vilas for editorial handling. | en_US |
| dc.description.uri | https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/ac1c0f/meta | en_US |
| dc.format.extent | 27 pages | en_US |
| dc.genre | journal articles | en_US |
| dc.identifier | doi:10.13016/m28hnp-egdx | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Ernst, Carolyn M. et al. Science Goals and Mission Concept for a Landed Investigation of Mercury. The Planetary Science Journal 3 (March 25, 2022), no. 3. https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac1c0f | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac1c0f | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11603/24541 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
| dc.publisher | IOP Science | en_US |
| dc.relation.isAvailableAt | The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) | |
| dc.relation.ispartof | UMBC Center for Space Sciences and Technology | |
| dc.relation.ispartof | UMBC Faculty Collection | |
| dc.rights | This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law. | en_US |
| dc.rights | Public Domain Mark 1.0 | * |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ | * |
| dc.title | Science Goals and Mission Concept for a Landed Investigation of Mercury | en_US |
| dc.type | Text | en_US |
| dcterms.creator | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7707-1128 | en_US |