Bepi Colombo - 2

BepiColombo: Kinetic processes in the solar wind, Mercury's magnetosheath and magnetosphere

 The focus of our project is stated in BepiColombo/MMO Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment (MPPE) proposal (sent as a response to AO JX-MMO-9999) is on:

 -          3D hybrid modeling of the solar wind interaction with the hermean environment (in particular for different IMF and heliocentric distances)

-          high resolution 2D and 3D analysis of wave-particle interactions at bow shock, magnetopause, polar regions

-          Comparison of simulation results with MPPC data

 During the projects (ESA; contracts PRODEX No. 14529: and PECS No. 98024) we have developed a global three dimensional kinetic model of the interaction between the solar wind and a planetary magnetosphere which has been successfully applied to the planet Mercury. These results have lead to the inclusion of our team into core groups within BepiColombo project (ESA) and MESSENGER project (NASA). Presented project will help desingners of the BepiColombo instruments to estimate values of obsevables expected in the Mercury's environment and will benefit from our access to MESSENGER data which will help us to keep this tool up to date for the operational phase of BepiColombo.

 Our project will focus on:

 1)      Solar wind: We plan to investigate the role of instabilities driven by the temperature anisotropy as well as those driven by ion beams comparing theory, observations and numerical simulations in the solar wind and influence of these processes on Mercury's magnetosheath and foreshock plasma.

 2)      Structure and configuration of Mercury's magnetosphere: During the early stages of the project, the basic structure and configuration of Mercury's magnetosphere will be examined by using the hybrid simulation model.

 3)      How, when and where does the solar wind impact the planet?: Since the hybrid model includes ions as particles, maps of solar wind particle impacts on the planet, which can be tracked separately from ions sputtered off the planet (as illustrated in the second figure above), will be constructed including the energy spectrum of the impacting particles sorted by solar wind conditions.

 4)      What are the mechanisms for charged particle acceleration in the Hermean magnetosphere?:  Formation of beams and anisotropies will be examined in terms of plasma transport and as a source of plasma instabilities. Ion beam, heat flux and temperature anisotropy driven instabilities will be examined to determine the transfer of energy to different plasma population via waveparticle interactions. Since ions and electrons are treated as particles in the simulation, three dimensional velocity distributions will be formed at different locations within the magnetosphere.

 5)      Do substorms occur at Mercury and how do they differ from substorms at Earth?: To examine whether substorms or substormlike processes occur at Mercury, hybrid simulations will be conducted in which the IMF is varied during a run.

 6)      Data distribution system: For the purpose of the interpretation of in situ observations, simulated data will be distributed via simple WWW interface to our colleagues in the form of virtual spacecraft measurements performed in our simulated data set.

Principal Investigator  : Pavel Trávníček

Address : Astronomický ústav AV ČR,  251 65 Ondřejov,

e-mail : trav@Alenka.ufa.cas.cz