The European Space Agency’s BepiColombo mission to the planet, Mercury, is planned for launch in 2012. A lander called the MSE (Mercury Surface Element) has been proposed for the mission. To be compatible with all the constraints for a soft-landing on Mercury, the payload must be highly miniaturized. Although the requirements are challenging, significant study, design, and bread-board work has been performed which suggests that excellent science can be accomplished within a total payload mass of around 7 kg. The MSE would provide a substantial increase in our knowledge of the Hermean surface after that which can be obtained from orbital remote sensing.