13:15, Lecture hall C.011

Dr. Hauke Hussmann (DLR Berlin)

Measurements with the Bepi Colombo Laser Altimeter (BELA)

Abstract: After its launch in 2018, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission is on its way to Mercury, the innermost planet of the solar system. Mercury is an intriguing planetary object with respect to its dynamical state and evolution. The planet contains a large iron core overlain by a relatively thin silicate mantle and crust. Mercury is locked in a unique 3:2 spin-orbit coupling (three rotations around its axis equal two revolutions about the sun), and its intrinsic magnetic dipole field informs us that at least part of Mercury’s iron core is in a liquid state. Phases of global contraction and phases of volcanic activity have occurred in the thermal evolution of the planet. The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter BELA, one of 11 instruments on the Mercury Planetary Orbiter, will acquire topographic data of the planet as well as measurements of its rotational state and tidal deformation. Current knowledge about the geophysics of Mercury, the state of the mission, which will enter its science orbit by end of 2026, and prospects for the investigations with BELA will be summarized here.

Vita:  Dr. Hauke Hußmann is head of the Planetary Geodesy department at the DLR Institute of Space Research in Berlin. He is Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) of the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter BELA on the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission which will arrive at Mercury in 2026. He is also PI of the Ganymede Laser Altimeter GALA on ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice), currently in flight to the Jupiter system, and Co-Investigator on the subsurface radar instrument and the gravity and radio science investigation on NASA's Europa Clipper mission. 

Invited by:  Frank Postberg