Objectives
The scientific objectives behind BepiColombo can be viewed by considering the following 12 questions:
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What can we learn from Mercury about the composition of the solar nebula and the formation of the planetary system?
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Why is Mercury's normalized density markedly higher than that of all other terrestrial planets, Moon included?
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Is the core of Mercury liquid or solid?
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Is Mercury tectonically active today?
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Why does such a small planet possess an intrinsic magnetic field, while Venus, Mars and the Moon do not have any?
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Why do spectroscopic observations not reveal the presence of any iron, while this element is supposedly the major constituent of Mercury?
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Do the permanently shadowed craters of the polar regions contain sulphur or water ice?
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Is the unseen hemisphere of Mercury markedly different from that imaged by Mariner 10?
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What are the production mechanisms of the exosphere?
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In the absence of any ionosphere, how does the magnetic field interact with the solar wind?
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Is Mercury's magnetised environment characterised by features reminiscent of the aurorae, radiation belts and magnetospheric substorms observed at Earth?
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Since the advance of Mercury's perihelion was explained in terms of space-time curvature, can we take advantage of the proximity of the Sun to test general relativity with improved accuracy?
Last Update: 23 Aug 2012
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