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| MERTIS | |
|---|---|
| Name | MERTIS |
| Mission | BepiColombo |
| Operator | ESA / JAXA |
| Type | Thermal infrared spectrometer |
| Wavelength | 7–14 µm (nominal), 7–40 µm (extended) |
| Resolution | ~6–8 cm−1 spectral |
| Launch | 2018 |
| Launch vehicle | Ariane 5 |
| Status | Active / cruise and Mercury orbital operations |
MERTIS MERTIS is a thermal infrared spectrometer flown on the BepiColombo mission to Mercury that was developed by a European consortium led by the German Aerospace Center and the Max Planck Society in partnership with the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the Institute of Planetary Research. The instrument complements other payload elements from the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to characterize surface mineralogy, thermophysical properties, and space-weathering processes on Mercury during the orbital phases of the BepiColombo mission. MERTIS builds on heritage from instruments on missions such as Mars Express, Rosetta, Venus Express, and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter while incorporating cryogenic microbolometer and spectrometer technologies developed with contributions from industrial partners including OHB SE, Airbus Defence and Space, and academic labs at the University of Bern.
MERTIS was conceived within the scientific frameworks of the International Astronomical Union working groups and planetary science roadmaps from organizations like the European Space Agency Science Programme Committee and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to address outstanding questions about volatile inventory and crustal evolution on Mercury. The instrument design responded to input from mission teams that included stakeholders from the Planetary Science Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Natural History Museum, London, and university groups at Brown University, MIT, and University of Arizona. MERTIS’s nominal measurement goals were coordinated with payload elements on the BepiColombo MPO orbiter and the Mio (Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter) to enable synergistic studies with gravity science from the NASA Deep Space Network and compositional mapping from instruments like the Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer of other missions. Development and testing utilized facilities at the European Space Research and Technology Centre, the Institute of Planetology, Münster, and calibration campaigns referencing spectral libraries curated by teams at the Smithsonian Institution and the Natural History Museum, London.
MERTIS integrates a pushbroom imaging spectrometer with a slit and a cooled uncooled microbolometer array developed through collaborations among the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Planetary Research, and industrial partners such as Selex ES and FLIR Systems. The optical bench includes a telescope assembly with mirrors fabricated following procedures used by the European Southern Observatory and metrology methods from CERN instrumentation groups. The spectrometer employs gratings and filters whose characterization relied on standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and measurement protocols used at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille. Electronics and thermal control units were supplied with contributions from the European Space Agency technology programmes and tested in thermal vacuum chambers at the Marshall Space Flight Center and ESTEC. The instrument electronics interface conforms to data-handling specifications of the BepiColombo Mission Operations Centre and tested integration with the ESA Ground Segment and the JAXA Usuda Deep Space Center.
MERTIS was tasked to map rock-forming minerals, detect sulphides and silicates, and constrain surface temperatures and emissivity variations across terrains identified by imagery from the MDIS and geophysical context from the MESSENGER mission. Science objectives were formulated with input from the International Space Science Institute and targeted questions about crustal differentiation and volatile depletion that intersect studies by teams at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Carnegie Institution for Science, and the Open University. The instrument’s spectral range enables discrimination among feldspars, pyroxenes, olivine, and graphite-bearing materials, complementing high-energy particle and magnetometer data from the Mio and the magnetometer teams at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research. Observational campaigns were planned to coincide with solar longitude phases informed by solar activity forecasts from the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center and heliophysics input from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.
MERTIS was integrated into the Mercury Planetary Orbiter payload suite alongside instruments such as the PHEBUS, SERENA, and SIMBIO-SYS experiments, with operations coordinated by the European Space Operations Centre and science planning by the BepiColombo Science Working Team. The instrument duty cycle, pointing priorities, and downlink scheduling were negotiated with the Mission Planning and Analysis Group drawing on models from NASA JPL and the ESA Science Operations Centre. Ground calibration and in-flight checkout used test sequences similar to those on the Rosetta and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions, and contingency planning referenced anomaly response procedures developed for the Cluster and Venus Express missions.
Raw spectral data from MERTIS undergo radiometric correction, thermal background subtraction, and spectral calibration using laboratory reference spectra compiled by teams at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, ETH Zurich, and the Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory (PSL). Calibration pipelines were developed leveraging software frameworks from the European Space Agency science data systems and algorithms validated within collaborations including the Planetary Data System and the Virtual European Solar and Planetary Access (VESPA) project. Cross-calibration with datasets from the MESSENGER spacecraft, and comparison with terrestrial analog collections at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the Natural History Museum, London enable mineral identification and thermophysical modeling using tools from the European Planetary Science Congress community.
Early MERTIS observations revealed emissivity spectra indicative of silicate compositions and thermal inertia variations consistent with regolith textures previously inferred by teams analyzing MESSENGER data. Specific detections included spectral features suggestive of magnesium-rich pyroxenes and opaque phases that align with models proposed by researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science and Brown University. MERTIS data have been used in joint studies with geomorphologists from the University of Colorado Boulder, radiative transfer modelers at the University of Arizona, and geochemists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry to reassess hypotheses about volcanic resurfacing and space-weathering processes first proposed in analyses of the Caloris Basin and intercrater plains. Collaborative publications with authors from the Max Planck Society, CNRS, and the University of Bern synthesize MERTIS results with magnetic field observations from teams at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
MERTIS advances thermal infrared spectroscopy heritage established by missions like NEAR Shoemaker, Galileo, and Hayabusa2 by providing high-quality mid-infrared compositional maps for a highly irradiated terrestrial body, influencing laboratory spectroscopy programs at institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Natural History Museum, London. Its technological innovations in cryogenic detectors and onboard calibration strategies inform instrument concepts proposed to the European Space Agency and NASA for future missions to Venus, Io (moon), and airless bodies studied by teams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. The dataset contributes to the archival holdings of the Planetary Data System and supports comparative planetology studies used by researchers from the International Astronomical Union commissions and the European Planetary Science Congress community, ensuring continued scientific returns across geology, geochemistry, and heliophysics investigations.
Category:Planetary science instruments Category:Mercury (planet) exploration