Computer Science
Scientific paper
Jan 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002iaf..confe.708c&link_type=abstract
IAF abstracts, 34th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, The Second World Space Congress, held 10-19 October, 2002 in Houston, TX, USA.,
Computer Science
Scientific paper
1 mission which would arrive at Mercury 100 days after launch and provide sophisticated scientific measurements not available in principle from orbiters, while being far less risky, time-consuming, and costly from an operations standpoint. Our `Mercury Express' is fast, low cost, low risk, high heritage, and high return, has a large instrument payload with 2 easily-deployed mini-probes of <10 kg each, and can complete an overview of the surface within 1 year from launch, as early as 2006, after 2 encounters. The mission concept was developed at NASA/GSFC from previously undiscovered yearly opportunities for flyby trajectories which take advantage of Mercury's spin orbital resonance and allow the spacecraft to encounter Mercury repeatedly at the same relative position in its revolution around the sun, when hemispheres are alternately illuminated. The Mercury Express exploits the ability of an inexpensive launch vehicle to directly transfer a payload from Earth to Mercury in 100 days and return to Mercury for a second encounter 264 days later when the planet's opposite side is illuminated. Exposure to high thermal radiation during encounters is minimal: by using a passive design approach, the Express spacecraft can survive its relatively short duration, low altitude flybys. time, long duration Mercury missions, the NASA Mercury Messenger and ESA Mercury Cornerstone missions. The Mercury Express features a systematic, multi-disciplinary approach to the study of Mercury, as well as a robust instrumentation package which would return a very high data volume (>100 Gbits). A well-instrumented spacecraft with equatorial periapses supported by two polar nanoprobes substantially expands the measurement capability of a single spacecraft. The two probes, each with a magnetometer and transponder (for radio science), are released just before first encounter are targeted to fly over north and south poles while the main spacecraft flies over the equatorial region, to provide the simultaneous multi-point measurements of the magnetosphere. The main spacecraft instrument payload, which allows study of Mercury and its environment as a system, includes visible and near IR imaging, X-ray, and UV spectrometers, as well as high time resolution fields and particles instruments to measure solar wind induced activity in the magnetosphere. Mission strategy combines high data volume with low demand on ground based communications. High capacity (50 Gbit) solid state recorders allow data to be burst into memory during each Encounter, and played back gradually to the ground. The mission is particularly suited to investigate the planet's interior structure and magnetic field to 3rd order; provide imaging and bulk composition of the entire surface, determine the composition of the exosphere, and model the 3D structure, composition, boundaries, wave/particle interactions, dynamics and particle sources/sinks of the magnetosphere. Thus, the Mercury Express approach can uniquely provide a comprehensive field, particle, and plasma dataset, which would allow more complete interpretation of planned orbiter data.
Clark Pamela E.
Curtis Steven Andrew
Marr Greg
McKenna-Lawlor Susan
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