Abstract
Whitepaper #042 submitted to the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. Topics: interior evolution and volcanism; Mercury and/or the Moon; solar system formation, dynamics processes, and chronology
Highlights
Our knowledge of the formation and evolution of the solar system is constantly changing with each new set of spacecraft data, meteorite analysis, and sample collected from another planetary body
Given the vast amount of data we have from Mars from orbiters [e.g., 1], landers [e.g., 2], rovers [e.g., 3], and meteorites [e.g., 4], increasing our understanding of the formation, makeup, and evolution of Mercury through similar efforts will help to constrain models of the lateral heterogeneities of the inner planetary disk and answer transformative solar system science questions (Table 1)
We have greatly expanded our knowledge of Mercury with the return of data from the NASA MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission [e.g., 5], there are still outstanding, fundamental questions that can only be answered via high-precision analyses conducted in Earth-based laboratories of materials directly sampled from the planet
Summary
Our knowledge of the formation and evolution of the solar system is constantly changing with each new set of spacecraft data, meteorite analysis, and sample collected from another planetary body. MESSENGER provided data that facilitated great advancements in our understanding of the geology, internal structure, exosphere, and magnetosphere of Mercury These past mission datasets show that Mercury is a volatile-rich planet, has extensive polar deposits, exhibits a north– south asymmetry in its global magnetic field, experienced prolonged global contraction, but a truncated history of volcanism, and has a dynamic magnetosphere as well as a seasonal exosphere. The data from remote-sensing missions provide a wealth of knowledge regarding the physical and chemical characteristics of a planetary body, and in situ analyses of the surface materials will transform our current understanding of Mercury, there are critical science questions that can best be addressed via examination of a sample in Earth-based laboratories, where numerous highly sensitive analytical measurements are possible (Tables 1 and 2). A sample from Mercury would enable comparative planetology studies, and would yield transformative science relevant to the origin, timing, and composition of planetary building blocks in the solar system
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