Mercury Landers Options

[gndonald]

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?

[tasp]

Just throwing out some ideas, may be helpful in the long run.

The amazing trajectory Messenger is taking to Mercury would be reversible, wouldn't it? I'm thinking an orbiter/lander could be sent to Mercury (granted this part is going to be heavy) to study the planet, and the lander could collect some surface samples and put them into orbit around Mercury.

A retreiver craft could be sent to collect the samples and then return to earth via a reversed version of the Messenger flight plan.

The key to making this work is that you set it up so that as much of the delta v as possible is provided by gravity assists from Earth, Venus, and Mercury for all the spacecraft involved in the mission.



Also,

To expand on some of the ideas posted in this thread, could a kevlar net orbiting Mercury (tethered to a shielded orbiter) 'snag' debris from a plume generated from an impactor craft?

This might be a 'cheap and dirty' way of retrieving materials from the surface of Mercury as part of mission to return them to earth.

[Bob Shaw]

Just throwing out some ideas, may be helpful in the long run.

The amazing trajectory Messenger is taking to Mercury would be reversible, wouldn't it?  I'm thinking an orbiter/lander could be sent to Mercury (granted this part is going to be heavy) to study the planet, and the lander could collect some surface samples and put them into orbit around Mercury. 

A retreiver craft could be sent to collect the samples and then return to earth via a reversed version of the Messenger flight plan.

The key to making this work is that you set it  up so that as much of the delta v as possible is provided by gravity assists from Earth, Venus, and Mercury for all the spacecraft involved in the mission.
Also,

To expand on some of the ideas posted in this thread, could a kevlar net orbiting Mercury (tethered to a shielded orbiter) 'snag' debris from a plume generated from an impactor craft?

This might be a 'cheap and dirty' way of retrieving materials from the surface of Mercury as part of mission to return them to earth.

The killer with Mercury landings - not counting the interplanetary stuff, where perhaps there might be *reverse* slingshots to be had with some clever planning - is that as it's an airless body you're limited to rocket-based descents. Add the cost of transporting your fuel for ascent and there are some quite rapid diminishing returns! Of course, if there's ice at the poles, in-situ fuel might be an option - otherwise, the 'smash and grab' mission seems about the only game in town!

Bob Shaw