{
  "bibcode": "2021GCN.30949....1H",
  "body": "K. Hurley on behalf of the IPN team,\n\nA.S.��Kozyrev, D.V.��Golovin, M.L.��Litvak, I.G.��Mitrofanov, and A.B.��Sanin \non behalf of the MGNS/BepiColombo team, and\n\nJ.��Benkhoff on behalf of the BepiColombo team, report:\n\nThe ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission was launched on October 20, 2018 on a \n7.2-year journey to Mercury. After arrival in late 2025, the mission \nwill spend a nominal one year in Mercury orbit. The mission consists of \ntwo spacecraft: the JAXA-provided Mio spacecraft for the thorough \nexploration of the environment, and the ESA-led Mercury Planetary \nOrbiter, MPO, for a comprehensive exploration of the planet itself, the \ninterior, and its magnetic field. The MPO contains the Mercury Gamma-Ray \nand Neutron Spectrometer (MGNS) experiment [1, 2] consisting of a 3��� \ndiameter x 3��� long CeBr3 scintillator, which also has a gamma-ray burst \ndetection capability. During the cruise phase so far, MGNS operated for \nabout 23 months, and has detected 38 confirmed gamma-ray bursts, 21 of \nwhich have been localized to annuli using data from HEND/Mars Odyssey, \nwhich is also part of the IPN since 2002. The verification of the \nlocalization accuracy of this method was based on gamma-ray bursts for \nwhich optical afterglows were detected. Reference [3] presents 5 \ngamma-ray bursts as examples of these localizations.\n\nMGNS is now the 34th experiment to be integrated into the interplanetary \nnetwork (IPN) since 1977, which currently consists of Konus-Wind, Mars \nOdyssey, BepiColombo, Swift, INTEGRAL and AGILE. In this configuration, \nthe IPN now has two interplanetary spacecraft, which will lead to more \nprecise GRB localizations.\n\nReferences:\n\n1. Mitrofanov, I.G., Kozyrev, A.S., Lisov, D.I., Litvak, M. L., et al. \n(2021). Space Science Reviews. Volume 217, Issue 5, article id.67A.\n\n2. https://np.cosmos.ru/index.php/en-us/instruments/mgns\n\n3. The links below show maps with localization annuli from MGNS-HEND \ndata for 5 gamma-ray bursts: GRB 190530A, GRB 200219C, GRB 200415A, GRB \n200716C and GRB 210112A.\n\nhttp://l503.iki.rssi.ru/owncloud/index.php/s/bXsgMFb9afifHzz\n\nhttp://l503.iki.rssi.ru/owncloud/index.php/s/mPC5lrPy2pYLmbz\n\nhttp://l503.iki.rssi.ru/owncloud/index.php/s/FcbgOtcA5pEx3nD\n\nhttp://l503.iki.rssi.ru/owncloud/index.php/s/58JCvMJ6x5uzbbU\n\nhttp://l503.iki.rssi.ru/owncloud/index.php/s/g4miSw176EHU7bL",
  "circularId": 30949,
  "createdOn": 1634731688000,
  "email": "kevin.hurley@comcast.net",
  "subject": "BepiColombo MGNS joins the IPN",
  "submitter": "Kevin Hurley at UCBerkeley/SSL  <kevin.hurley@comcast.net>"
}