Objective
"High-energy collisions shaped planetary growth, internal structures, and surfaces. Evidence includes the cratered Moon, Mars, and Mercury; the likely impact origin of Earth’s and Mars’ moons; and metal meteorites from destroyed differentiated bodies. Mercury’s unusually large core may also reflect mantle stripping during a giant impact. Interest in Mercury has strongly increased in recent years, notably with the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission. Yet the giant impact hypothesis has never been tested in terms of thermochemical evolution.
In this context, the applicant has designed ""MAGMA"", a project to reassess how such an event shaped Mercury and test its viability. The project will explore thermodynamic and chemical outcomes of candidate impacts, focusing on melt production and volatile partitioning between core and mantle materials from both impactor and target—key to Mercury’s thermal and chemical evolution and to interpreting BepiColombo data. Given Mercury’s particularly large core, even small differences in volatile content strongly affect its mass and measured gravity field. The work combines shock-physics simulations with laboratory experiments on element behavior under post-impact conditions, compared to spacecraft data. It merges the applicant’s expertise with an innovative experimental campaign, new to the applicant, requiring host infrastructure and supervisor expertise. Ultimately, MAGMA will assess the uniqueness of Mercury in light of the growing discovery of super-Mercury exoplanets.
Beyond Mercury, the project will advance understanding of how giant impacts shape the diversity of rocky planets, including Earth. Its interdisciplinary approach will provide new tools to link geochemical signatures to dynamical histories. Results will directly benefit interpretation of ongoing missions and exoplanet observations, offering a framework to understand how extreme collisional events shape planetary systems."
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering vehicle engineering aerospace engineering astronautical engineering spacecraft
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry transition metals
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences meteorites
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences natural satellites
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences planets exoplanetology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3000 LEUVEN
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.