École Nationale Supérieure de
Techniques Avancées

Abstract

The space exploration mission BepiColombo will come into orbit around the planet Mercury at the end of the year 2025. In order to prepare the observations of the plasma environment by this space probe, it is important to understand the different configurations of the plasma structures around Mercury depending on the solar wind forcing : the Bow Shock, the Ion ForeShock and the magnetopause. In this context, our work investigates the use of the global 3D hybrid plasma simulation code LatHyS in order to assess steady and dynamic states of the collisionless plasma structures around Mercury, when they are interacting with nominal and extreme Solar Wind conditions. In particular, one of the key aspect of this interaction is the possibility for the dayside magnetosphere to disappear and expose the planet surface to the interplanetary plasma flow during extreme forcing events, such as Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections (ICME). Thanks to the same hybrid simulation setup, the final part of this work explores the magnetic and pressure conditions that could lead to surface exposure during ICME representative cases.