BepiColombo - SERENA
Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances Experiment
The SERENA instrument suite (Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances) will study in-situ the composition, the vertical structure and the source of the deposit processes of the exosphere of Mercury.
The SERENA consortium is led by the Principal Investigator S. Orsini from IFSI, Rome, Italy.
The Instruments
ELENA
(Emitted Low-Energy Neutral Atoms)
Detection of neutral particles
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MIPA
(Miniature Ion Precipitation analyzer)
Measure of magnetospheric and solar ions fluxes
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PICAM
(Planetary Ion Camera)
Imaging mass spectrometer for planetary origin ions
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STROFIO
(Start From A Rotating Field Mass Spectrometer)
Thermal and low energy neutral particles spectrometer
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MPS contribution
The main contribution by MPS to SERENA will be scientific support for the experiment and the High Voltage Power Supply for the PICAM sensor. This includes the 'gating' of incoming ions using an algorithm based on probability theory (Hadamard algorithm) implemented in a field programmable array (FPGA) within the HV-unit. Thus we here only describe details of the PICAM sensor.
The MPS contribution is supported by the German Government through the German Space Agency (DLR) under contract 50 QW 0503 and by the Max Planck Society.
BepiColombo MPO Planetary Ion Camera (PICAM)
PICAM is one of the four sensors belonging to the 
SERENA instrument suite.
Science objectives
One of the major questions to be investigated by the BepiColombo mission is the role and efficiency of the surface of Mercury as a source of exospheric neutrals and magnetospheric ions. By measuring ions at relatively low energies, i.e. from thermals up to a few keV, PICAM will offer the possibility to get information on the soil composition, on the rate of neutral escape from the surface, on the efficiency of the various source locations as well as on the physical processes that act to eject the neutrals from the surface. The main objectives of PICAM are listed as follows:
- Processes by which Neutrals are Ejected from the Surface of Mercury
- Large-Scale Chemical Composition of the Hermean Soil
- Amount of Atoms Ejected from the Surface of Mercury and to Measure the Flux of Planetary Ions Returning to the Surface
- Existence of an Ionosphere and the Convection of Plasma in the Hermean Environment
- Structure of the Hermean Magnetosphere and its Interactions with the Solar Wind
- Characteristics of the Solar Wind Flow Near the Planet
PICAM Collaboration
PICAM is developed within the SERENA consortium in a collaboration of
- IWF, Graz, Austria
- IKI, Moscow, Russia
- CETP/IPSL, Paris, France
- ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands
- KFKI, Budapest, Hungary
- MPS, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
Technical Data
The PICAM (Planetary Ion CAMera) ion mass spectrometer operates as an all-sky camera for charged particles allowing the determination of the velocity distribution and mass spectrum for ions over a full 2π field of view (FOV), from thermal up to ~3 keV energies and in a mass range extending up to ~132 amu (Xenon). An instantaneous 2π FOV coupled with this mass range and a mass resolution better than ~100 result in a superior performance.
| Energy range |
1 eV - 3 keV |
| Energy resolution ΔE/E |
10-50% (controllable) |
| Viewing angle |
2.17 π |
| Angular resolution |
6 - 10 deg (controllable) |
| Mass resolution m/Δm |
>100 |
| Optimal temporal resolution |
10 sec |
| Geometric factor G |
0.021 cm2 ster |
| Instrument total mass |
1343g |
| Power consumption |
3.1-7.0 W |
| Data rate |
0.5-3.0 kbit/s |
Electronic Block Diagram
PICAM Team at MPS
| Joachim Woch | Co-Investigator |
| Markus Fraenz | Scientist |
| Norbert Krupp | Co-Investigator |
| Alexander Loose | Electronics Engineer |
| Henning Fischer | Electronics Engineer |
| Ulrich Bührke | Technician |
Related links
