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Landing on Mercury on equator at perihelion
Rem31
post Mar 21 2006, 12:18 AM
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How will it be to make a manned landing at Mercury at its closest to the sun (perihelion) on its equator when the sun is in the zenith ,what are the dangers of a landing then? Do we need to be protected against the sunheat and radiation then? How strong is the heat and radiation of the sun then ,and is it dangerous when the solaractivity is high then? What kind of spacesuits do we need then? Better protected suits than we have used on the apollo moonlandings i think. Can you explain how a landing on Mercury will be when it is at perihelion and land on its equator with the sun directly overhead? I hope it will ever happen. Lets start discuss about it.
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jsheff
post May 10 2006, 03:52 PM
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As I recall, Mariner 10's discovery of a magnetic field at Mercury was something of a surprise. That, plus the more accurate determination of the planet's density (which turned out to be much higher than all but Earth's) provided by Mariner 10's measurement of the size and mass of the planet, led scientists to posit a large iron core for Mercury. That alone is worthy of study, and while Messenger and BepiColumbo orbiters will constrain the models of the planet's interior, there's nothing like a seismic network of landers to really study the planet's geology. A number of people posting here have suggested that such a network could be emplaced at the poles or at high latitudes, but I see nothing far-fetched about a low-latitude seismic network of landers. All the probes would have to do is land early in the Mercurian night, as others have suggested, and dig into the regolith a few dozen meters! (We are already developing automated drilling technology for Mars exploration.) There is no need for the spacecraft to be "cooked"; a few meters down, there is bound to be a benign temperature regime. Such landers could function for a very long time, whether powered by RTGs or some sort of suitably-hardened solar panels. (And if the latter are developed, SEP would make even the daunting task of reaching and orbiting Mercury not so far beyond present technology, I would think.) But the automated drilling is an enabling technology, no?

- John Sheff
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Bob Shaw
post May 10 2006, 05:58 PM
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John:

The trouble with Mercury is, that although the environment *could* be coped with at a pinch, the sheer cost in terms of rocketry is worse than enormous. Getting to Mercury at all other than (slowly) by way of multiple Earth-Venus gravity assists is hideously impractical - and landing on it is literally the 'worst-case' scenario in the entire Solar System, what with it's reasonably high gravity and no atmosphere for braking purposes.

To put men there is even more difficult as you'd almost certainly want to do it *quickly* because of Solar flares!

To get to Mercury you really need some major set of breakthroughs in propulsion technology, even above and beyond the few speculative technologies we have some promise of!

Bob Shaw


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Remember: Time Flies like the wind - but Fruit Flies like bananas!
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Posts in this topic
- Rem31   Landing on Mercury on equator at perihelion   Mar 21 2006, 12:18 AM
- - antoniseb   QUOTE (Rem31 @ Mar 20 2006, 07:18 PM) How...   Mar 21 2006, 12:25 AM
- - RNeuhaus   QUOTE (Rem31 @ Mar 20 2006, 07:18 PM) How...   Mar 21 2006, 02:25 AM
|- - Rem31   But how will a (hypothetical) manned landing on Me...   Mar 21 2006, 03:42 AM
|- - RNeuhaus   QUOTE (Rem31 @ Mar 20 2006, 10:42 PM) But...   Mar 22 2006, 01:35 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   A manned landing on Mercury at perihelion -- or an...   Mar 21 2006, 04:25 AM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Mar 20 2006, 08:25 P...   Mar 21 2006, 10:02 PM
|- - BruceMoomaw   QUOTE (JRehling @ Mar 21 2006, 10:02 PM) ...   Mar 21 2006, 11:57 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Mar 21 2006, 03:57 P...   Mar 22 2006, 05:46 PM
- - Richard Trigaux   QUOTE (Rem31 @ Mar 21 2006, 01:18 AM) How...   Mar 21 2006, 06:09 AM
- - edstrick   Exploring Mercury is difficult. While it's re...   Mar 21 2006, 08:49 AM
|- - Richard Trigaux   At least, and orbiter with high resolution mapping...   Mar 21 2006, 09:08 AM
- - edstrick   Robert Strom (I think) and subsequent researchers ...   Mar 21 2006, 10:26 AM
|- - Richard Trigaux   hey, that is interesting, and fairly different of ...   Mar 21 2006, 11:06 AM
- - Richard Trigaux   An interesting job too for a probe would be sensin...   Mar 21 2006, 11:18 AM
|- - ljk4-1   Come on, guys - just land at night! How about...   Mar 21 2006, 03:20 PM
|- - JRehling   To summarize what other posters have written: Merc...   Mar 21 2006, 05:37 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   Even Arthur C. Clarke, the Keeper of the Holy of H...   Mar 21 2006, 09:42 PM
|- - ljk4-1   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Mar 21 2006, 04:42 P...   Mar 21 2006, 10:22 PM
|- - Rem31   Are there space artist impressions to find on the ...   Mar 21 2006, 11:42 PM
- - RNeuhaus   The Mercury atmospheric composition: CODEHelium 4...   Mar 22 2006, 01:59 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   It has stupendously less than that -- its atmosphe...   Mar 22 2006, 03:40 AM
- - edstrick   Niven may or may not have been aware of the really...   Mar 22 2006, 07:04 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   He surely wasn't aware of that, or he wouldn...   Mar 22 2006, 07:37 AM
- - edstrick   I'm assuming he wasn't. It was pretty obs...   Mar 22 2006, 08:15 AM
|- - BruceMoomaw   QUOTE (edstrick @ Mar 22 2006, 08:15 AM) ...   Mar 22 2006, 08:25 PM
- - Richard Trigaux   There was in another thread a discution on the pos...   Mar 22 2006, 08:37 AM
- - edstrick   A long lived Mercury lander would have decidedly d...   Mar 22 2006, 11:12 AM
- - Richard Trigaux   An ion drive would do well on a trajectory to Merc...   Mar 22 2006, 07:26 PM
|- - ljk4-1   QUOTE (Richard Trigaux @ Mar 22 2006, 02...   Mar 22 2006, 08:09 PM
|- - antoniseb   QUOTE (ljk4-1 @ Mar 22 2006, 03:09 P...   Mar 22 2006, 08:45 PM
||- - Richard Trigaux   QUOTE (antoniseb @ Mar 22 2006, 09:45 PM)...   Mar 22 2006, 09:40 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (ljk4-1 @ Mar 22 2006, 12:09 P...   Mar 22 2006, 09:27 PM
|- - ljk4-1   QUOTE (JRehling @ Mar 22 2006, 04:27 PM) ...   Mar 22 2006, 09:41 PM
- - edstrick   Mariner 10 did have a tiny infrared radiometer. I...   Mar 23 2006, 09:33 AM
- - Rem31   What kind of experience will it (possibly) be when...   Apr 28 2006, 09:47 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   All I can say is you like hot weather a lot more t...   Apr 28 2006, 09:53 PM
|- - Rem31   What are the kind of dangers of a (manned) landing...   May 10 2006, 12:06 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   God, yes. We've mentioned all this before. A...   May 10 2006, 08:43 AM
|- - Bob Shaw   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ May 10 2006, 09:43 A...   May 10 2006, 11:00 AM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ May 10 2006, 01:43 A...   May 10 2006, 01:35 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (JRehling @ May 10 2006, 06:35 AM) ...   May 10 2006, 05:08 PM
- - Rem31   And on a manned landing on Mercury at (perihelion)...   May 10 2006, 11:28 AM
|- - helvick   QUOTE (Rem31 @ May 10 2006, 12:28 PM) And...   May 10 2006, 12:19 PM
- - jsheff   As I recall, Mariner 10's discovery of a magne...   May 10 2006, 03:52 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   John: The trouble with Mercury is, that although ...   May 10 2006, 05:58 PM
- - RNeuhaus   A comparative view of Sun between Mercury and Eart...   May 10 2006, 07:06 PM
- - jsheff   I know how horrendous the delta-vee requirements a...   May 10 2006, 07:27 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (jsheff @ May 10 2006, 12:27 PM) Th...   May 10 2006, 08:27 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   QUOTE (JRehling @ May 10 2006, 09:27 PM) ...   May 10 2006, 08:39 PM
||- - ilbasso   QUOTE (Bob Shaw @ May 10 2006, 04:39 PM) ...   May 18 2006, 05:47 PM
|- - helvick   Absolutely agree with you on this but people are s...   May 10 2006, 08:50 PM
|- - ljk4-1   QUOTE (helvick @ May 10 2006, 04:50 PM) A...   May 18 2006, 05:52 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   Well, all the way back in the 1950s -- when he was...   May 10 2006, 09:11 PM
- - Rem31   Do you need also Solarheat and radiation protectio...   Jun 17 2006, 09:00 PM
- - dvandorn   I don't have detailed numbers for you, but my ...   Jun 18 2006, 11:52 PM
- - RNeuhaus   In spite of the fact Mercury has extermes temperat...   Jun 19 2006, 12:46 AM
|- - ermar   QUOTE every 44 days (one orbital period is close t...   Jun 20 2006, 08:09 PM
- - RNeuhaus   Good tought ermar! I haven't percated th...   Jun 21 2006, 03:04 AM
- - Rem31   Here is one of the most beautifull photographs of ...   Jun 22 2006, 09:11 PM
|- - helvick   QUOTE (Rem31 @ Jun 22 2006, 10:11 PM) I h...   Jun 22 2006, 11:40 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (helvick @ Jun 22 2006, 04:40 PM) N...   Jun 23 2006, 04:10 PM
|- - Rem31   QUOTE (JRehling @ Jun 23 2006, 04:10 PM) ...   Jun 24 2006, 11:09 PM
- - edstrick   Note that we *DO* know there's polar volatile ...   Jun 23 2006, 10:50 AM
- - edstrick   I note that that page has ONE (the first) of the M...   Jun 24 2006, 10:24 AM
- - efron_01   about Mercury having been a moon of Venus.. I have...   Nov 12 2006, 03:44 PM
- - nprev   As I recall, the Arecibo radar images of Mercury...   Nov 13 2006, 02:11 AM
- - Alan S   This might be a topic for a new thread, but since ...   Jan 8 2007, 06:21 AM
- - edstrick   The helium 3 is a fraction (in very approximate pr...   Jan 8 2007, 12:43 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   QUOTE (edstrick @ Jan 8 2007, 12:43 PM) T...   Jan 8 2007, 10:32 PM
- - ljk4-1   Dr. Robert Bussard of the Bussard ramjet interstel...   Jan 8 2007, 02:52 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (ljk4-1 @ Jan 8 2007, 06:52 AM...   Jan 8 2007, 07:16 PM
- - nprev   I think that JR's analysis was right on, if ni...   Jan 9 2007, 02:25 AM
- - edstrick   "...what minerals might the planet have ......   Jan 9 2007, 08:39 AM


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