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The successful accomplishment of the ROSETTA mission to a cometary nucleus requires some preliminary knowledge of comet status and activity, such as surface temperature, percentage of active surface, intensity of gas and dust fluxes and so on. It would be impossible to answer these questions only on the basis of ground-based observations, so it is necessary to use a predictive model of the thermal evolution and differentiation of a cometary nucleus. The nucleus of the model built by the authors' group is a sphere, initially homogeneous, composed of a highly porous predefined mixture of ices of water (the dominant constituent), CO/sub 2/, CO and silicatic dust grains embedded in it. In this work the authors applied the model, with different choices of parameters, to a comet on the orbit of P/Wirtanen, the target of ROSETTA mission, with the aim of obtaining information necessary to the planning of the mission. The results of this simulation seem to indicate that: The range of expected comet surface temperatures is: at the equator-aphelion 130 K; at the equator-perihelion 210 K; at latitude 80/sup deg/-aphelion 90 K; at latitude 80/sup deg/-perihelion 160: K; The circumpolar regions are probably inactive and covered by a dusty crust, while the equatorial regions are probably characterized by active areas. The depth of the volatile-depleted ice layers varies from 5 m at the equator to 10 m at the pole.

From the current understanding we know that comet nuclei have heterogeneous compositions and complex structures. It is believed that cometary activity is the result of a combination of physical processes in the nucleus, like sublimation and recondensation of volatile ices, dust grains release, phase transition of water ice, depletion of the most volatile components in the outer layers and interior differentiation. The evolution of the comet depends on the sublimation of ices and the release of different gases and dust grains: the formation of a dust crust, the surface erosion and the development of the coma are related to the gas fluxes escaping from the nucleus. New observations, laboratory experiments and numerical simulations suggest that the gas and dust emissions are locally generated, in the so-called active regions. This localized activity is probably superimposed to the global nucleus activity. The differences between active and inactive regions can be attributed to differences in texture and refractory material content of the different areas. In this paper we present the results of numerical models of cometary nucleus evolution, developed in order to understand which are the processes leading to the formation of active and non-active regions on the cometary surface. The used numerical code solves the equations of heat transport and gas diffusion within a porous nucleus composed of different ices—such as water (the dominant constituent), CO 2 , CO- and of dust grains embedded in the ice matrix. By varying the set of physical parameters describing the initial properties of comet P/Wirtanen, the different behaviour of the icy and dusty areas can be followed. Comet P/Wirtanen is the target of the international ROSETTA mission, the cornerstone ESA mission to a cometary nucleus. The successful design of ROSETTA requires some knowledge of comet status and activity: surface temperatures, amount of active and inactive surface areas, gas production rate and dust flux.

BepiColombo has a larger and in many ways more capable suite of instruments relevant for determination of the topographic, physical, chemical and mineralogical properties of Mercury’s surface than the suite carried by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft. Moreover, BepiColombo’s data rate is substantially higher. This equips it to confirm, elaborate upon, and go beyond many of MESSENGER’s remarkable achievements. Furthermore, the geometry of BepiColombo’s orbital science campaign, beginning in 2026, will enable it to make uniformly resolved observations of both northern and southern hemispheres. This will offer more detailed and complete imaging and topographic mapping, element mapping with better sensitivity and improved spatial resolution, and totally new mineralogical mapping.We discuss MESSENGER data in the context of preparing for BepiColombo, and describe the contributions that we expect BepiColombo to make towards increased knowledge and understanding of Mercury’s surface and its composition. Much current work, including analysis of analogue materials, is directed towards better preparing ourselves to understand what BepiColombo might reveal. Some of MESSENGER’s more remarkable observations were obtained under unique or extreme conditions. BepiColombo should be able to confirm the validity of these observations and reveal the extent to which they are representative of the planet as a whole. It will also make new observations to clarify geological processes governing and reflecting crustal origin and evolution.We anticipate that the insights gained into Mercury’s geological history and its current space weathering environment will enable us to better understand the relationships of surface chemistry, morphologies and structures with the composition of crustal types, including the nature and mobility of volatile species. This will enable estimation of the composition of the mantle from which the crust was derived, and lead to tighter constraints on models for Mercury’s origin including the nature and original heliocentric distance of the material from which it formed.

The VIRTIS scientific and technical teams will take advantage of their previous experience in the design and development of spectrometers for space applications. In fact, the various groups contributing to the VIRTIS experiment, from Italy, France and Germany, have been deeply involved in the CASSINI mission, with the experiments VIMS and CIRS. The targets of the ROSETTA mission are the most primi- tive solar system bodies : comets and asteroids. ROSETTA will study in detail a comet nucleus, the prime target of the mission, and will fly by one or two asteroids. The small bodies of the solar system are of great interest for planetary science and their study is crucial to understand the solar system formation. In fact it is believed that comets and, to a lesser extent, asteroids underwent a moderate evolution so that they preserve some pristine solar system material. Comets and asteroids are in close relationship with the plan- etesimals, which formed from the solar nebula 4.6 billion years ago. The global characterisation of one comet nucleus and one or two asteroids will provide basic information on the origin of the solar system and on the interrelation between the solar system and the interstellar dust environment. The ROSETTA mission is designed to obtain the above mentioned scientific goals by : (a) in situ analysis of comet material ; (b) long period of remote sensing of the comet. The combination of remote sensing and in situ measurements will increase the scientific return of the mission. In fact, the “in situ” measurements will give relevant “ground-truth” for the remote sensing information and, in turn, the locally collected data will be interpreted in the appropriate scenario provided by remote sensing investigation. The scientific payload of ROSETTA includes a Visual InfraRed Spectral and Thermal Spectrometer (VIRTIS) among the instrument on board the spacecraft orbiting around the comet. This instrument is fundamental to detect and study the evolution of specific fingerprints—such as the typical spectral bands of minerals and molecules—arising from surface components and from materials dispersed in the coma. Their identification is a primary goal of the ROSETTA mission as it will allow us to identify the nature of the main constituent of the comets. Moreover, the surface thermal evolution during comet approach to Sun is important information that can be obtained by means of spectroscopic observation. The VIRTIS design and its detailed science goals are reported hereafter.