The Surface of Mercury

In the forthcoming decade we will be studying the material Mercury was formed of in the inner solar system, how and when Mercury did evolve and become internally differentiated and what we can deduce from the present surface features and regolith composition to address the question of the distribution of both primary and secondary crusts on Mercury. The topography will be measured by laser altimetry (BELA) and the surface composition by imaging X-ray spectrometry (MIXS) from 2024 onward with instrumentation onboard the ESA corner stone mission BepiColombo.