Dan Minette wrote: > >> Also, to get to the Sun it's cheaper to go to Jupiter and >> then get back. >> > > IIRC, there was a near sun probe that did use Jupiter. > Yes, but in this case it was even more critical to get to Jupiter, because the purpose was to get near the North [or South] pole of the Sun. And this implies in a change in the orbital inclination, which is *much* harder than a change in the semi-major axis. For example, if you want to play with numbers, look at my "Hard SF Tools" page, at... http://www.geocities.com/albmont/hard-sf.htm Or, in page... http://www.geocities.com/albmont/dvorbit.htm ... by inputing Mass = 1 Sun, Inicial orbit = circular, r = 1 Astronomical Unit, Final orbit with perihelium at 695000 km [just touching the Sun's surface], we need a Delta-V of 27 km/s. By going first to Jupiter [R = 5.2 AU], we use a Delta-V of 11 km/s, and then we spend another 3 km/s [it's even less, because we may use J's flyby to save fuel] to get down to the Sun. Alberto Monteiro
