Imaging Mercuryʹs surface within the context of the Mercury Orbiter study of 1994

Imaging Mercuryʹs surface would be an integral part of any mission to planet Mercury as only 45% of Mercuryʹs surface is known from the Mariner 10 fly-bys in 1974. The requirements for an imaging experiment were worked out within the context of the ESA M3 Mercury Orbiter assessment study. It is shown that the orbit of the spacecraft, the motions of Mercury and the limited data rate of a deep space mission require careful planning if complete imaging of the surface at as good as possible resolution is to be accomplished early in a mission.