Heat flow measurements on Mercury from the BepiColombo orbiter

Kurzfassung

The heat flux from the interior of Mercury is a key diagnostic for understanding the interior state of the planet and the source of the magnetic field. Now that plans for BepiColombo no longer include the proposed Surface Package, the only opportunity to study the heat flow is by using infrared measurements made from the orbit to map thermal anomalies on the planet's surface. This paper discusses the feasibility of such measurements, in the particular context of the BepiColombo Planetary Orbiter and its proposed payload.