MERTIS — a radiometer and thermal infrared spectrometer aboard BepiColombo

In cooperation, the Institut für Planetologie (IfP) at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität (WWU) of Münster and two DLR institutes located in Berlin are sending the Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS) on a mission to the innermost planet. MERTIS is a sophisticated, miniaturized instrument and will be one of eleven payload items on the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), one of two separate spacecraft composing the BepiColombo mission. Launch is scheduled for 2013 with arrival currently foreseen to occur in 2019. The objectives of MERTIS are to study Mercury's surface composition, identify rock-forming minerals, map the surface mineralogy, and study surface temperatures and thermal inertia.