Mercury Surface, Exosphere, and Space Weathering Research
This community investigates the surface composition, magnetic field, and tenuous atmosphere of the planet Mercury, as well as the physical processes that modify airless bodies like the Moon and Mercury through solar wind interactions and micrometeoroid impacts.
The work centers on analyzing Mercury's exosphere, particularly neutral helium, sodium, and interstellar neutral atoms, using data from the MESSENGER and BepiColombo missions. Researchers examine how solar wind and micrometeoroids drive space weathering, altering surface regolith and releasing particles. The community also models Mercury's thermal evolution, magnetic field generation, and the formation of its iron-rich core, while comparing these processes to lunar surface chemistry and impact cratering.
The largest share of the community's output is found in Mercury research, comprising 660 papers, which represents 1.9% of all tracked Mercury research. Helium research contributes 82 papers, accounting for 0.2% of that element's literature.
The community comprises 1,065 papers, publishing most frequently in Icarus, Planetary and Space Science, and Geophysical Research Letters.
Recent work focuses on the IMAP mission instruments, Mercury's sulfur exosphere and subsurface transport, and the distribution of volatiles at Mercury's south pole.
Papers behind this description
- Michelson Interferometer for Global High-Resolution Thermospheric Imaging (MIGHTI) On-Orbit Wind Observations: Data Analysis and Instrument Performance — Space Science Reviews, 2023 — doi:10.1007/s11214-023-00971-1
- Direct evidence of surface exposed water ice in the lunar polar regions — Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018 — doi:10.1073/pnas.1802345115
- Solar energetic particle tracks in lunar samples: A transmission electron microscope calibration and implications for lunar space weathering — Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 2021 — doi:10.1111/maps.13732
- Particles and Photons as Drivers for Particle Release from the Surfaces of the Moon and Mercury — Space Science Reviews, 2022 — doi:10.1007/s11214-022-00875-6
- Thermal and magnetic evolution of Mercury with a layered Fe-Si(-S) core — Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2024 — doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2024.118812
- Space Weathering: Clear with a Chance of Solar Wind and Micrometeoroid Showers — Elements, 2025 — doi:10.2138/gselements.21.5.346
- From the Moon to Mercury: Release of Global Crater Catalogs Using Multimodal Deep Learning for Crater Detection and Morphometric Analysis — Remote Sensing, 2025 — doi:10.3390/rs17193287
- Mercury's Hollows: A Potential Signature of Sulfur Exosphere‐Subsurface Transport — Geophysical Research Letters, 2025 — doi:10.1029/2025gl118112
- Mercury’s sodium exospheric responses to a solar wind high-speed stream event — Icarus, 2026 — doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2026.117272
- Illumination, thermal conditions, and distribution of volatiles at Mercury ’s south pole based on new stereo topographic models — Icarus, 2026 — doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2026.117197