Mercury Exploration Assessment Group (MExAG)
The Mercury Exploration Assessment Group (MExAG) is a community-based, interdisciplinary body that was established by NASA in 2020 to provide science input and analysis needed to plan and prioritize Mercury research and exploration activities. Membership of MExAG, and participation in its activities, is open to all members of the planetary science and exploration community who are interested in the exploration of Mercury.
Details about MExAG, including its purpose, activities, organization, and processes can be found in the MExAG Terms of Reference.
If you would like to become a member of MExAG, please complete the MExAG Indication of Interest form.
News
MExAG (Mercury Exploration Assessment Group) 2021
February 3–5, 2021
Virtual
The first meeting of the newly chartered MExAG will be held February 3–5, 2021. The agenda will include an overview of NASA programs, ongoing science of the innermost planet, updates on ongoing and concepts for future spacecraft missions, and initiation of the development of a goals document for the future of Mercury science and exploration.
The focus of the meeting will be Science and Exploration of Mercury: Now and for the Future.
Call for Abstracts
Abstract Deadline — December 23, 2020, 5:00 p.m. U.S. Central Standard Time (GMT -6)
This meeting is open to everyone with an interest in the science and exploration of the planet Mercury.
Registration
No registration fees are being collected for this meeting, but registration is required for communication and planning purposes. To continue receiving e-mail updates about this meeting, please register using the electronic registration form. Registration will close on February 1, 2021.
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting (https://www.agu.org/fall-meeting) will be held online everywhere December 1–17, 2020. We encourage you to share your Mercury science by submitting an abstract to the following session:
P023 – Mercury: From MESSENGER to BepiColombo
Session description: NASA's MESSENGER mission revolutionized our understanding of Mercury's surface, interior, exosphere, magnetosphere, and heliospheric environment. With the launch to Mercury of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo dual spacecraft mission to Mercury in October 2018, that understanding is poised to soon take another major step forward. In this session, we welcome contributions on data analysis, laboratory measurements, ground-based observations, and theoretical developments that build on the current state of knowledge of Mercury. We particularly welcome papers on how questions raised by MESSENGER findings can be addressed by future observations expected from BepiColombo, as well as how measurements by BepiColombo during flybys of Earth and Venus in 2020 can be used to support investigations at Mercury.
Conveners: Paul K. Byrne (NCSU), Johannes Benkhoff (ESA ESTEC), Masaki Fujimoto (JAXA), and Sean C. Solomon (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory).
Abstract submission deadline is Wednesday, 29 July 2020 23:59 EDT/03:59 +1 GMT. You can submit your abstract here: https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm20/prelim.cgi/Home/0.
The MExAG Steering Committee has been appointed. See the committee members here.
Whitepapers for the 2023-2032 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey are available here. The Panel on Mercury and the Moon is one of six panels providing topical input to the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey Steering Group.