December 10, 2023

ORGANIZATION

OVERALL ORGANIZATION

ESA is contracting authority for the BepiColombo project in partnership with Japan. JAXA is responsible for the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio). ESA is in charge of the rest of the project, i.e. the Mercury Polar Orbiter (MPO), launch, navigation towards Mercury and perihermian orbit injection of the probes.

CNES is funding the BepiColombo project through its contribution to ESA's Mandatory Scientific Programme, and directly through a national programme, for French participation in the instruments on the two orbiters (MPO and Mio). CNES, representing France on ESA's Science Programme Committee, is responsible for the French deliverables.

CNES is overseeing the French contribution (CNRS, universities) to BepiColombo. As such, it is:

funding the contributions of the French laboratories
overseeing development of the French contributions
if needed by laboratories, providing support for quality assurance and mechanical, thermal and component-related expertise
managing the interface with ESA and JAXA for technical and programmatic aspects
funding French research scientists not supplying hardware but who may be on the science teams selected by ESA and JAXA to work on the mission’s science data

French Contributions to MIO instruments

Instrument	Name	PI	Laboratory	Contribution	Co-PI or Co-I	Laboratory
Plasma wave measurement instrument suite	PWI 5 instruments WPanT Search Coil AM²P MEFISTO SORBET	H. Matsumoto	Kyoto University	Supply of axial fluxmeter for the Search Coil	F. Sahraoui	LPP (France)
				Supply of AM²P instrument (Active Measurement of Mercury's Plasma)	P. Henri	LPC2E (France)
				Supply of SORBET instrument (Radio Waves and Thermal Electrostatic Noise Spectroscopy)	M. Moncuquet	LESIA (France)
Charged particle measurements instrument suite	MPPE 5 instruments MEA MSA SWA HEP-e HEP-i	Y. Saito	ISAS-JAXA	Supply of MEA instrument (Electron spectra analyser)	N. André	IRAP (France)
Charged particle measurements instrument suite	MPPE 5 instruments MEA MSA SWA HEP-e HEP-i	Y. Saito	ISAS-JAXA	Supply of the Top-Hat electrostatic analyser for MSA instrument	D. Delcourt	LPP (France)

French Contributions to MPO instruments

Instrument	Name	PI	Laboratory	Contribution	Co-PI or Co-I	Laboratory
UV Spectrometer	PHEBUS	E. Quemerais	LATMOS	Supply of instrument	I. Yoshikawa O. Korablev	Univ. Tohoku (Japan) IKI (Russia)
Neutral and Ionized Particle Analyser Instrument suite	SERENA 4 instruments ELENA STROFIO PICAM MIPA	S. Orsini	IFSI	ELENA HT Converter (Emitted Low-Energy Neutral Atoms)	I. Dandouras	IRAP (France)
Neutral and Ionized Particle Analyser Instrument suite	SERENA 4 instruments ELENA STROFIO PICAM MIPA	S. Orsini	IFSI	PICAM Time-Of-Flight detector and associated electronics module (Low energy ion detector)	F. Leblanc J.J. Berthelier	LATMOS (France) LATMOS (France)
Imager suite (HR camera, stereo camera, IR spectro-imager)	SIMBIO-SYS 3 instruments STC HRIC VIHI	E. Flamini	ASI	High-rate instrument management electronic module	M. Vincendon	IAS (France)
				Optical and radiometric calibration of the integrated suite	M. Vincendon	IAS (France)
				Supply of detectors and proximity electronics for VIHI	A. Doressoundiram	LESIA (France)
Laser Altimeter	BELA	N. Thomas T. Spohn	Berne Univ. DLR	Mechanical and thermal modelling of BELA	P. Lognonné	IPGP (France)
Laser Altimeter	BELA	N. Thomas T. Spohn	Berne Univ. DLR	Solar and thermal IR radiation rejection filter study	P. Lamy	LAM (France)