The end of MESSENGER's mission, What happens after March 2013? |
The end of MESSENGER's mission, What happens after March 2013? |
Apr 21 2012, 10:08 AM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 62 Joined: 11-July 11 Member No.: 6058 |
I know nothing about either the technological constraints or the funding possibilities, but I was wondering if anyone knew what might happen to the probe once the extended mission at Mercury comes to an end. Is it definitely going to be decommissioned? Or is there a chance of sending it somewhere else? Is there sufficient propellant to allow it to break orbit using the LVA, and (say) conduct a flyby of an Aten or Apollo asteroid? I do not know how much delta-v would be required to do this, or even if there are any targets in favourable positions, but it would (to my untrained eye) be an excellent reuse of what has proven itself to be a very capable spacecraft.
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Apr 24 2012, 08:33 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 655 Joined: 22-January 06 Member No.: 655 |
No chance of Messenger spiralling sunwards I suppose, and snapping some solar limb movies on the way in ???
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May 5 2012, 05:42 PM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 52 Joined: 1-March 11 From: Houston, USA Member No.: 5860 |
No chance of Messenger spiralling sunwards I suppose... ??? Even if Messenger were not orbiting Mercury, because of the planet's high orbital velocity around the Sun, getting much closer to the star would take significant energy. Mercury's orbital velocity is about sixty percent higher than the Earth's. At the other end of the speed scale, Neptune orbits at less than twenty percent of Earth's velocity. So if you wanted to drop straight into the Sun, it would be almost nine times easier to do so from Neptune than from Mercury, which is pretty counter-intuitive. The way to spiral in from Mercury would be to use the solar wind for drag... |
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