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Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: Japan to Approve 1st Attempt to Land on Mercury

Read Me! 

*I finally got the link to open up and enable me to post it here; the web page was down for a few days, when I first noticed the article.

I'd be very interested in following this mission. 

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Free Spirit

Member

Registered: 2003-06-12

Posts: 167

Re: Japan to Approve 1st Attempt to Land on Mercury

I'm surprised they don't intend to land a rover since stationary landers are so 70s (I'm assuming when they say "lander" they mean a stationary craft.)  It's great news though, Mercury gets a lot of neglect when it comes to space missions.

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My people don't call themselves Sioux or Dakota.  We call ourselves Ikce Wicasa, the natural humans, the free, wild, common people.  I am pleased to call myself that.  -Lame Deer

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: Japan to Approve 1st Attempt to Land on Mercury

It's great news though, Mercury gets a lot of neglect when it comes to space missions.

*Yes indeed.    I'm curious how -HUGE- the sun appears from Mercury.  An astronomy source said the sun would appear about the size of a grapefruit from Mercury, but I should think it'd appear MUCH larger than that!    I'll presume most folks here have seen the rare photos of Mercury passing in front of the sun...good grief, it looks like a fly speck against a beachball!  It's amazing, isn't it, as tiny as Mercury is that it managed to obtain and maintain an orbit and didn't get swallowed up by the sun from the get-go.

But what do I know about physics?  Not much. 

--Cindy  :laugh:

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

atitarev

Member

From: Melbourne, Australia

Registered: 2003-05-16

Posts: 203

Re: Japan to Approve 1st Attempt to Land on Mercury

I, actually, think Mercury is quite valuable and should not be neglected. Mercury is too close to the Sun, so it can't be terraformed if it's not shifted into a higher orbit. Terraformable planets are few and Mercury should be considered next after Mars and Venus.

See the following link about moving and spinning up planets:
Paul Birch's Page

I think if Mercury could be shifted to about 90-95 mln km from the Sun (56  to 59 mln miles), it could be terraformed. Currently it is 46 (perihelion)- 70 (aphelion) mln km from the Sun. With Earth's atmosphere and rotation speed the average temperature would be about 45 C (113 F). It would be quite hospitable to live near the poles. Of course, I made a lot of assumptions about future technology development. For comparison - I read about Venus simulation - if it had Earth's atmosphere, water and rotation, its average temperature would be 25 C (77 F). (It's 8 C on Earth (46 F).

I am also interested in Jovian moons to be settled but the gravity on them is very low and they are on the other extreme - too cold. So I'd prefer Mercury to Ganymede, although I think a human mission to Mercury will happen later.

As for the size of the Sun when seen from Mercury - it's about 2.5 times larger as seen from Earth, could be different at perihelion and aphelion.

Anatoli

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Anatoli Titarev

Christina

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2002-05-07

Posts: 59

Re: Japan to Approve 1st Attempt to Land on Mercury

Mercury would also be a good 'base' for solar observations..

Providing the equipment didn't melt.

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[i]the early bird may get the worm, but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese[/i]