Exotic orbital path? [was Re: Mercury-bound MESSENGER ...]
From: H. E. Taylor (het_at_despam.autobahn.mb.ca)
Date: 08/04/04
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Date: Tue, 03 Aug 2004 17:11:46 -0700
In article <O%LPc.22933$Vm1.416377@news20.bellglobal.com>,
<ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca> Andrew Yee wrote:
>[...]
> During a 4.9-billion mile (7.9-billion kilometer) journey that includes 15 trips
> around the sun, MESSENGER will fly past Earth once, Venus twice and Mercury
> three times before easing into orbit around its target planet. The Earth flyby,
> in August 2005, and the Venus flybys, in October 2006 and June 2007, will use
> the pull of the planets' gravity to guide MESSENGER toward Mercury's orbit. The
> Mercury flybys in January 2008, October 2008 and September 2009 help MESSENGER
> match the planet's speed and location for an orbit insertion maneuver in March
> 2011. The flybys also allow the spacecraft to gather data critical to planning a
> yearlong orbit phase.
>
Does anyone happen to know the rationale for such an exotic
orbital path? Is it research driven or what?
>[...]
<curious>
-het
-- "See that, son? That's the moon. A long time ago, we used to go there." -stolen .sig How's yer crap detector? http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/detector.html H.E. Taylor http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/
- Next message: jacob navia: "Re: Religion"
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- Reply: Greg Neill: "Re: Exotic orbital path? [was Re: Mercury-bound MESSENGER ...]"
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- Reply: Chosp: "Re: Exotic orbital path? [was Re: Mercury-bound MESSENGER ...]"
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