IPB

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

Mercury Landers
gndonald
post Aug 15 2005, 03:36 PM
Post #1


Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 212
Joined: 19-July 05
Member No.: 442



While the likelyhood of a Mercury Lander mission is very low, I was wondering if any planning/studies have been done on such a project?
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
 
Start new topic
Replies
Guest_BruceMoomaw_*
post Aug 19 2005, 06:23 PM
Post #2





Guests






Well, I know that, John. I presumed that Richard Trigaux (like myself) was thinking about a surface reflector with an orbiter bouncing lidar off it -- just as the libration experiment on the Mars Netlanders would have involved a radio receiver on a Mars orbiter. But I still don't know why such surface laser reflectors (or radar reflectors) couldn't be used in association with an orbiter for Mercury libration measurements.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
JRehling
post Aug 19 2005, 09:31 PM
Post #3


Senior Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 2530
Joined: 20-April 05
Member No.: 321



QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Aug 19 2005, 11:23 AM)
Well, I know that, John.  I presumed that Richard Trigaux (like myself) was thinking about a surface reflector with an orbiter bouncing lidar off it -- just as the libration experiment on the Mars Netlanders would have involved a radio receiver on a Mars orbiter.  But I still don't know why such surface laser reflectors (or radar reflectors) couldn't be used in association with an orbiter for Mercury libration measurements.
*


I'd take a look at the sensitivity of the approach relative to the magnitude of the phenomenon. Mars gets a yank from Jupiter every 2.5 years or so, rotates every 24.6 hours, and has an axis inclined 23 degrees from its orbit. The last two factors decrease the magnitude of the Mercurian effect by a factor of a few hundred (I don't know about the yanking). The fact that Mercury's radius is smaller makes the problem an additional 30% harder. The approach would have to be *really* sensitive (at least three significant digits) in the martian case to work the same way and tell us about Mercury's libration. I don't have any facts telling me this is *the* answer, but it's gotta be part of the story.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post

Posts in this topic
- gndonald   Mercury Landers   Aug 15 2005, 03:36 PM
- - Patteroast   The European 'BepiColumbo' mission planned...   Aug 15 2005, 04:13 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   QUOTE (Patteroast @ Aug 15 2005, 05:13 PM)The...   Aug 15 2005, 07:05 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (Bob Shaw @ Aug 15 2005, 12:05 PM)The p...   Aug 16 2005, 03:55 PM
- - djellison   Impactor could work Doug   Aug 15 2005, 07:24 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   ESA studied alternative possible designs for a Bep...   Aug 15 2005, 07:30 PM
- - remcook   Although the Bepi-Colombo lander is cancelled, ESA...   Aug 16 2005, 08:44 AM
- - djellison   Well - studies dont equal flight hardware. Maybe ...   Aug 16 2005, 08:57 AM
- - remcook   actually, hardware is actually made at this moment...   Aug 16 2005, 03:01 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   (1) That Mercury smash-and-grab mission is a real...   Aug 16 2005, 07:53 PM
|- - DDAVIS   [quote=BruceMoomaw,Aug 16 2005, 07:53 PM] (2) Ac...   Aug 16 2005, 10:30 PM
|- - JRehling   Not to be a party-pooper, but the degree of spec...   Aug 17 2005, 06:44 AM
- - djellison   Well quite - of the planets on which one COULD lan...   Aug 16 2005, 10:46 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   You're forgetting 2003 UB313, Doug... (Or, alt...   Aug 17 2005, 12:57 AM
|- - um3k   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Aug 16 2005, 08:57 PM)Yo...   Aug 17 2005, 01:06 AM
- - Richard Trigaux   JRehling, your smash and grab idea is interesting....   Aug 17 2005, 06:11 AM
- - edstrick   JRehling observed " We probably have, or will...   Aug 17 2005, 10:59 AM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (edstrick @ Aug 17 2005, 03:59 AM)JRehl...   Aug 17 2005, 04:02 PM
|- - Stephen   QUOTE (edstrick @ Aug 17 2005, 10:59 AM)Where...   Sep 1 2005, 02:36 AM
- - Richard Trigaux   What is astonishing with Mercury is that it closel...   Aug 17 2005, 12:29 PM
- - centsworth_II   If getting a refector on Mercury is the objective,...   Aug 17 2005, 04:44 PM
- - tty   Here is a recent study of the probability of findi...   Aug 17 2005, 05:48 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   We don't want a reflector on Mercury for libra...   Aug 17 2005, 10:12 PM
- - Myran   Cant but agree with BruceMoomaw, libration studies...   Aug 18 2005, 05:55 AM
- - Richard Trigaux   centsworth_II your idea is interesting, but it wou...   Aug 18 2005, 06:40 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   I honestly don't know why they had it in mind,...   Aug 19 2005, 06:40 AM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Aug 18 2005, 11:40 PM)I ...   Aug 19 2005, 01:54 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   Well, I know that, John. I presumed that Richard ...   Aug 19 2005, 06:23 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Aug 19 2005, 11:23 AM)We...   Aug 19 2005, 09:31 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   ESA was thinking about a lander only 3 degrees fro...   Sep 1 2005, 03:01 AM
- - tasp   Just throwing out some ideas, may be helpful in th...   Nov 26 2005, 06:14 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   QUOTE (tasp @ Nov 26 2005, 07:14 PM)Just thro...   Nov 26 2005, 06:30 PM
|- - tty   QUOTE (Bob Shaw @ Nov 26 2005, 08:30 PM)The k...   Nov 27 2005, 04:42 PM
|- - DEChengst   QUOTE (tty @ Nov 27 2005, 05:42 PM)The best a...   Nov 27 2005, 09:20 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   There was, I've heard (though I haven't co...   Nov 26 2005, 09:13 PM
- - edstrick   Two or three years ago, there was some reporting o...   Nov 27 2005, 08:43 PM
|- - JRehling   I can't find the reference to the Mercury smas...   Nov 28 2005, 01:55 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   Keep in mind that this thing will fly past Mercury...   Nov 28 2005, 02:11 AM
- - ljk4-1   In this 1971 book, Beyond the Moon: Future Explora...   May 30 2006, 06:15 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   NASA never -- and I mean never -- put any Mercury ...   May 31 2006, 05:45 AM


Reply to this topicStart new topic

 



RSS Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 28th March 2024 - 04:03 PM
RULES AND GUIDELINES
Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting.

IMAGE COPYRIGHT
Images posted on UnmannedSpaceflight.com may be copyrighted. Do not reproduce without permission. Read here for further information on space images and copyright.

OPINIONS AND MODERATION
Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators.
SUPPORT THE FORUM
Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member.