Kevin Tarr wrote:
>
> <Serious> If a vehicle was launched towards Mercury
> (why we would want to go there?.......) could the
> spacecraft float towards the sun, being pulled by
> gravity, then be captured by Mercury? Or isn't the
> pull that strong, or is
> it too touch to calculate?</serious>
>
<serious> <ex-cathedra>
There's a huge waste of Delta-V [or fuel] by launching
things in a straight line towards planets. The most
efficient way to travel between planets is the
Hohmann Transfer Orbit, that touches the two orbits
a 180 deg apart.
Remember also that anything that has enough Delta-V
to escape Earth's gravitational attraction will find
itself orbiting the Sun with - approximately - Earth's
orbital speed, which will keep it orbiting the Sun
close to Earth's orbit.
Also, something that closer to Mercury will not be
captured by it. THe best that can be expected without
using fuel [Delta-V] is using Mercury's gravity to
deflect that ship's orbit one way or the other.
I put some Javascript calculations that can be
reached from...
http://www.geocities.com/albmont/hard-sf.htm
</ex-cathedra></serious>
Alberto Monteiro
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