Mercury Lander: A Planetary Mission Concept Study for the 2023-2032 Decadal Survey

Mercury holds unique clues to the distribution of elements at the birth of the solar system and how planets form and evolve in close proximity to their host stars. The Mercury Lander mission concept returns in situ measurements to: understand Mercury's unique mineralogy and geochemistry; characterize the massive core's structure; measure the planet's active and ancient magnetic fields at the surface; investigate the processes that alter the surface and produce the exosphere; and provide ground truth for remote datasets.

The mission concept achieves one Mercury year (~88 Earth days) of surface operations with an 11-instrument, high-heritage payload delivered to a landing site within Mercury's widely distributed low-reflectance material, and addresses science goals encompassing geochemistry, geophysics, the Mercury space environment, and geology.

The spacecraft launches on an expendable SpaceX Falcon Heavy in 2035. The four-stage flight system uses a solar-electric propulsion cruise stage to reach Mercury in 2045. The orbital stage brings the spacecraft into a thermally safe orbit, then performs orbital maneuvers to prepare for descent. During the orbital phase, a narrow-angle camera acquires images for selecting a low-hazard landing zone within our region of interest. The descent stage begins the braking burn ~120 s before landing. The lander continues to touchdown, using continuous LIDAR operations to support hazard detection and safely deliver the payload to the surface.

Landing is at dusk to meet thermal requirements, permitting ~30 hours of sunlight for initial observations. The radioisotope-powered lander continues operations through the Mercury night. Direct-to-Earth communication is possible for the initial three weeks of landed operations, drops out for six weeks, and resumes for the final month. Thermal conditions exceed lander operating temperatures shortly after sunrise, ending operations. A total of ~11 GB of data are returned to Earth.

The Phase A-D mission cost estimate (50% unencumbered reserves, excluding launch vehicle) is 1.2 B (FY25), comparing favorably with past New Frontiers missions and to the cost cap in the New Frontiers 4 call (~1.1B FY25). This cost estimate shows that a Mercury Lander mission is feasible and compelling as a New Frontiers-class mission in the coming decade.