Organisation

BEPICOLOMBO GENERAL Organisation

ESA is prime contractor of the BEPICOLOMBO project in cooperation 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 finances the BEPICOLOMBO project via its contribution to ESA's Mandatory Scientific Programme, and directly through a national programme, for the French participation to the instruments of the two orbiters (MPO and Mio). CNES, representing France before ESA's Science Programme Committee, is responsible for the French supplies.

CNES ensures, for all French participants (CNRS, University) the prime contractorship of the French contribution to BEPICOLOMBO. As such:

• it funds the contributions of the French laboratories;
• it oversees the developments of the French contributions;
• if needed by laboratories, it provides support for quality insurance and mechanical, thermal, and component-related expertise;
• it manages the interface with ESA and JAXA for technical and programmatic aspects;
• it funds the French scientific activities.

French Contributions to the instruments of MIO payload

Instrument	Name	PI	Laboratory	French 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 the axial fluxmeter of the Search Coil	F. Sahraoui	LPP (France)
				Supply AM²P instrument (Active Measurement of Mercury's Plasma)	P. Henri	LPC2E (France)
				Supply 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 MEA instrument (Electron spectra analyzer)	N. André	IRAP (France)
				Supply the Top-Hat electrostatic analyzer for MSA instrument	D. Delcourt	LPP (France)

French Contributions to the instruments of MPO payload

Instrument	Name	PI	Laboratory	French Contribution	Co-PI or Co-I	Laboratory
UV Spectrometer	PHEBUS	E. Quemerais	LATMOS	Supply PHEBUS 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)
				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 the detectors and the 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)
				Solar and thermal IR radiation rejection filter study	P. Lamy	LAM (France)