The Bepicolomba Laser Altimeter (BELA) - Science Requirements and Experiment Description

Kurzfassung

The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA) has been selected for flight aboard the MPO (Mercury Planetary Orbiter) of ESA´s BepiColombo mission to Mercury. From the spacecraft’s elliptic (pericenter: 400 km) near-polar orbit, the instrument will carry out range measurements to the surface along orbit tracks. The measurements will ultimately form a global geodetic map grid, which is fundamental for studies of the interior structure of the planet. BELA also aims at measurements of tidal flexing and planet librations. In addition, the analysis of the returning laser pulses will reveal details on the character of the surface, as morphology, reflectivity, and roughness. This first European planetary laser altimeter will be developed by a consortium led by the Physikalische Institut (Universität Bern, Switzerland) and the Institut für Planetenforschung (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Berlin, Germany). The spacecraft is scheduled for launch in 2013.