http://www.colonyworlds.com/2008/05/mercury-before-mars-equals-space-faring-civilization.html Discussing reasonable ways to colonize our solar system Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:16:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.colonyworlds.com/2008/05/mercury-before-mars-equals-space-faring-civilization.html#comment-3040 Mercury Up Close and Personal « Contact – Infinite Futures Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:42:48 +0000 http://www.colonyworlds.com/2008/05/mercury-before-mars-equals-space-faring-civilization.html#comment-3040 [...] scientists think that colonizing Mercury would be a wiser choice than going to Mars, namely because of easy solar power so close to the sun, Mercury’s similarity to our Moon, [...] [...] scientists think that colonizing Mercury would be a wiser choice than going to Mars, namely because of easy solar power so close to the sun, Mercury’s similarity to our Moon, [...]

]]> http://www.colonyworlds.com/2008/05/mercury-before-mars-equals-space-faring-civilization.html#comment-1621 qraal Sun, 11 May 2008 04:35:00 +0000 http://www.colonyworlds.com/2008/05/mercury-before-mars-equals-space-faring-civilization.html#comment-1621 Hi DarnellMercury is only 105 days away via a Hohmann orbit, but the delta-vee is nasty - 5.55 km/s from LEO then 7.5 km/s in low Mercury orbit. An elliptical arrival orbit only shaves 1 km/s off that, too. Either way that's a pretty tough ask for near-term propulsion systems carrying a manned vehicle, unless a multi-year space-soak of cosmic rays, ala MESSENGER, is acceptable... not!Mercury has some advantages though. There's radar evidence for large polar caps - much, much stronger signals than the Moon's vague hints. Hi DarnellMercury is only 105 days away via a Hohmann orbit, but the delta-vee is nasty – 5.55 km/s from LEO then 7.5 km/s in low Mercury orbit. An elliptical arrival orbit only shaves 1 km/s off that, too. Either way that's a pretty tough ask for near-term propulsion systems carrying a manned vehicle, unless a multi-year space-soak of cosmic rays, ala MESSENGER, is acceptable… not!Mercury has some advantages though. There's radar evidence for large polar caps – much, much stronger signals than the Moon's vague hints.

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