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Announcement of Opportunity for an
Interdisciplinary Scientist and Guest Investigators
in the BepiColombo mission

22 April 2025

This Announcement of Opportunity (AO) solicits applications by scientists to augment the scientific return of the BepiColombo mission and aims to appoint up to one Interdisciplinary Scientist (IDS) from ESA Member States and up to eleven Guest Investigators (GIs), up to five from ESA Member States, up to one from Japan, and up to five from the USA. In 2019, a first call resulted in the selection of six IDSs and six GIs. By July 2024, one of the IDS positions became vacant, prompting the issuance of the current call to appoint a new IDS. The new GI positions will increase the number of the currently appointed scientists and replace those whose term has ended.

BepiColombo is an interdisciplinary mission to the planet Mercury, carried out as a joint project between ESA and JAXA, with the participation of NASA, and executed under ESA leadership. It consists of two orbiters, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO, also known as Mio), which are dedicated to the detailed study of the planet and its magnetosphere.

The BepiColombo mission was launched on 20 October 2018. Arrival at Mercury and start of the science exploitation phase are planned in late 2026 and early 2027, respectively. The duration of the nominal science operations is one Earth year, with a possible one-year extension.

The aim of this AO is to appoint up to one new Interdisciplinary Scientist (IDS) and up to 11 Guest Investigators (GI). The IDS and the GIs will be appointed for a first period of three years, renewable. An IDS or GI appointment is ad personam. ESA will not fund the activities of the IDS or the GIs (travel costs to attend meetings, etc.) and each proposer is responsible for securing their own funding.

The call for GIs is open to scientists based in ESA Member States, Japan and the USA. The call for the IDS is open to scientists based only in ESA Member States. Principal Investigators and Co-Principal Investigators of the BepiColombo instrument teams are excluded from this call, while Co-Investigators are eligible for the IDS position, but not for GI positions.

Full details, including the tasks of an IDS or GI, requirements for the proposals, and evaluation criteria, can be found in the Announcement of Opportunity for Interdisciplinary Scientists and Guest Investigators in the BepiColombo mission document.

Letter of Intent and Proposal Submission forms

Applications must be preceded by a Letter of Intent. Proposals not preceded by a Letter of Intent will not be considered. The Letters of Intent and proposals must be submitted using the online forms – see links to the forms below or in the menu.

Schedule

The schedule for this AO is given in the table below:

Contact

Last updated: 22 April 2025

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