We numerically work out the impact of the general relativistic Lense-Thirring effect on the Earth-Mercury range | \vec { \rho } | caused by the gravitomagnetic field of the rotating Sun .
The peak-to peak nominal amplitude of the resulting time-varying signal amounts to 1.75 \times 10 ^ { 1 } m over a temporal interval \Delta t = 2 yr. Future interplanetary laser ranging facilities should reach a cm-level in ranging to Mercury over comparable timescales ; for example , the BepiColombo mission , to be launched in 2014 , should reach a 4.5 - 10 cm level over 1 - 8 yr. We looked also at other Newtonian ( solar quadrupole mass moment , ring of the minor asteroids , Ceres , Pallas , Vesta , Trans-Neptunian Objects ) and post-Newtonian ( gravitoelectric Schwarzschild solar field ) dynamical effects on the Earth-Mercury range .
They act as sources of systematic errors for the Lense-Thirring signal which , in turn , if not properly modeled , may bias the recovery of some key parameters of such other dynamical features of motion .
Their nominal peak-to-peak amplitudes are as large as 4 \times 10 ^ { 5 } m ( Schwarzschild ) , 3 \times 10 ^ { 2 } m ( Sun ’ s quadrupole ) , 8 \times 10 ^ { 1 } m ( Ceres , Pallas , Vesta ) , 4 m ( ring of minor asteroids ) , 8 \times 10 ^ { -1 } m ( Trans-Neptunian Objects ) .
Their temporal patterns are different with respect to that of the gravitomagnetic signal .