| The MESSENGER spacecraft was inserted into orbit about Mercury on March 18 2011. Particle measurements from the FIPS instrument onboard this spacecraft reveal abundant populations of heavy ions such as O+ and Na+ in all magnetospheric regions. These ions appear to significantly contribute to thermal pressure, particularly in the nightside equatorial region where they can account for up to one third of the proton pressure. These heavy ion populations that originate from the planet surface via a variety of processes (e.g., thermal desorption, solar wind sputtering, micro-meteoritic bombardment...) thus have to be considered for a comprehensive investigation of the magnetosphere structure and dynamics at Mercury. We will review some transport features of these heavy ions of planetary origin. These features include : large scale convection from dayside cusp to nightside plasma sheet and subsequent nonadiabatic transport in the magnetotail, impulsive energization during short-lived reconfigurations of the magnetosphere, as well as centrifugally stimulated escape from the exosphere. We will also discuss the fate of planetary ions entering into the magnetosphere from the magnetosheath and their ring-like distribution at low latitudes. |