The MERMAG consortium has been formed to propose and provide the magnetic field investigations for the two elements of BepiColombo, to perform the scientific operations and data gathering on the mission and to perform the exploitation of the observations in order to meet the objectives of magnetic field investigations on this mission. It is recognized that the scientific objectives of the BepiColombo mission can be best met by the comprehensive scientific coordination of the magnetic field investigations. The two investigations are designated MERMAG-P for the MPO and MERMAG-M for the MMO.

The members of the MERMAG consortium are scientific teams from:

• Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London, UK (ICL)
• Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS/JAXA), Tokyo, Japan
• Institut für Geophysik und Meteorologie, Technical University Braunschweig, Germany (TUBS)
• Space Research Institute, Graz, Austria (IWF)

In view of the extensive scientific objectives of magnetic field investigations on the BepiColombo mission, addressing a wide range of planetary and space physics topics, the investigation teams will also include scientists as Co-Is from institutes and countries other than the founding members of the consortium. These Co-Is will be included in the teams at the proposal stage and will be expected materially to contribute to the preparation, implementation, and the scientific exploitation phases of the mission. In particular, we expect to establish formal links with the scientific team of NASA's Messenger mission through the inclusion of Co-Investigators in the MERMAG investigations.

The MERMAG Consortium was very successful with its magnetic field investigation proposals to ESA and JAXA: IWF is Principal Investigator of MERMAG-M and TUBS of MERMAG-P.