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Japan And EU Plan Joint Mission To Mercury

Posted by timothy on from the ten-four-good-buddy dept.

Devar writes "Japan and the European Space Agency have revealed their plans for a joint mission to Mercury that would be the first to land a probe on its surface. The mission also includes two orbiters to map the surface, all due to be launced in 2010."

11 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. ....... Puff... by Hougaard · · Score: 4, Funny

    Did you see the smoke NASA ? :-)

  2. 2010 by redune45 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pretty cool, but not nearly as great as rescuing a haywire AI while orbiting Jupiter

    --
    redune.com: The World 3.2 Megapixels at a time
  3. Joint mission? by jwriney · · Score: 3, Funny

    How the hell are you gonna keep it lit in space?

    --riney

    1. Re:Joint mission? by mess31173 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Avg. Surface temp. (of mercury): Day 623 K Source

      That's hot enough to keep it lit. And get you fried, in this case, in more ways than one.

    2. Re:Joint mission? by Scarblac · · Score: 5, Informative

      Firstly, of course the moon rotates as well. It just rotates at the same angular velocity at which it orbits Earth, so we always see the same face. This is caused by a process called tidal lock.

      Mercury is in tidal lock with the sun. But because its trajectory is elliptical, it's not a 1:1 lock, but a 3:2 lock: there are 3 Mercury days in 2 Mercury years.

      A Mercury day is 58.6 Earth days, a Mercury year is 88 Earth days, according to this fact sheet. 58.6 days should be enough for most missions.

      --
      I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
  4. FP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    FIRST PLANET!

  5. Re:Why Mercury? by Paul+Neubauer · · Score: 5, Informative

    There have been many missions to Venus and Mars, a few flybys of Jupiter (and Galileo orbiting Jupiter). Saturn and beyond have only flybys so far, but it takes a long time to get to them. Mercury is relatively close, is close to the sun so solar power can be used (avoiding silly controversy over nuclear power sources) and has only had one spacecraft look at it, from mainly one angle. Also, it's not the moon, but a "new" world to explore. All in all, it's a nice place to send a few robots to prove one's technology and show off, and get useful new results in a reasonable amount of time.

    --
    I don't subscribe to RMS's GNUtopian vision.
  6. BepiColombo by FlexAgain · · Score: 3, Informative

    Even though they don't mention the name, this sounds likes they are talking about BepiColombo which has been in the works for several years now.

    One of the more exciting bit about the mission is the lander (or impactor, depending) which is one of the things which distinguishes it from the US Messenger. Unfortunately, this is also one of the elements most likely to be removed, due to cost and complexity.

    --
    Actually it is rocket science...
    1. Re:BepiColombo by wowbagger · · Score: 3, Funny

      So, the probe will go to Mecury, circle 'round it, inspect it, and start to leave.

      Then it will turn around, and say,

      "There's just one thing that puzzles me, sir..."

      --
      www.eFax.com are spammers
  7. Re:Why Mercury? by FlexAgain · · Score: 4, Informative

    Why did they choose Mercury? Don't get me wrong, I think it's pretty cool, but why not some of the other planets in our system? Scientists are fascinated with Mars because of the possibility of life. There's fascination about Saturn and it having a bazillion moons. Jupiter with it's nutty red spot (man that's a hell of a storm).

    Well, at the moment, ESA has a mission going to Mars (Mars Express), Venus shortly (Venus Express), Saturn is covered by Huygens (in combination with Cassini).

    Nothing is going to Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto at the moment, but most of those are real buggers to get to easily.

    Mercury is the only planet in the inner solar system which ESA hasn't sent anything to yet (or is about to). Add to that the fact that so little is known about it, Mariner 10 left many questions unanswered, and it's about time we had a look.

    --
    Actually it is rocket science...
  8. Re:Why Mercury? by cjabaley · · Score: 3, Informative

    For a low cost mission Mercury is probably your best bet. There's no atmosphere to speak of, and external propulsion won't have to be terribly elaborate, because the sun's gravity will do most of the work. Also, as the two posters above me mentioned, very little has been studied about Mercury. On a more scientific note, mercury is the perfect place to study the effects of extreme heat and gravity on a planet and the inorganic substances that exist there. Moreover, it can provide more information about the level of radiation bombardment that could be expected for objects passing close to the sun.