For example; if a spacecraft were to land on one of these objects that have a fast orbit, couldn’t we set up an outpost for a period of time, ride it out to Jupiter for instance. Do scientific research and then ride it back in close to earth and blast off for home?
Originally posted 2009-03-25 16:51:36.
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ionno but thats a pretty good idea i like the way you think lol
I wouldn’t recommend a comet, you know, because of all the stuff coming out of it, it may be unstable. And an asteroid would still present some difficulty. What if the side you land on stays in the dark for long periods of time? Then you wouldn’t have solar power available. Also, unless it’s a huge asteroid, there will be negligible gravity, which is an added difficulty. Well anyways, to piggyback on an asteroid you still need to reach its speed, and since there is very little friction in space, unless you specifically want to study the asteroid, there is surely a quickest way to reach whatever solar system destination using only your spacecraft.
This has been asked before and overlooks one major part of orbital mechanics. How do you land on an asteroid or comet? It can be done, but only in a particular way.
These things are bombing along at phenomenal speed. They don’t have enough gravity to snare your spacecraft as it passes unless it is moving relatively slowly compared to the asteroid. That means you have to nearly match its orbit and speed in order to reduce your relative velocity to a degree where you could actually land on it rather than slamming into it at speed.
The thing is, once you’ve matched its orbit and speed to that degree, orbital mechanics dictates that your spacecraft is pretty well going where that asteroid or comet is going anyway. It becomes a rather ironic situation: once you adjust your course and speed so you CAN hitch a ride on the asteroid you don’t actually NEED to.
Firstly, no to an asteroid, as they don’t orbit in the same way comets do. They tend to stay in a belt around a star, unless they go rouge (spinning away from the belt) and then their course becomes erratic and random.
We could probably design a system to match comet speed and trajectory and land on it, assuming many different variables work out optimally. The problem is that most comets make very large orbits throughout the universe or galaxy, not limiting themselves to our solar system. The most famous, Halley’s comet, has an orbit time of 78 years. While it would technically be possible to do this, it really wouldn’t be practical.
However, I think there may be merit to the idea of landing a probe on one and allowing the comet’s velocity to spare energy, making the probe last longer. Anyone have other ideas?
No point to it. First you have to accelerate to intercept the asteroid. then decelerate to match velocities and then at the end of the trip you would have to decelerate again to match velocities with your destination. And finally you would have to get back on your own because the asteroid isn’t going to hang around and wait for you. All this would require more fuel and time than just heading out there with a ship.
Yes it’s possible, and at first glance one would say but what would be the point? If you had the fuel to catch up and maneuver to land on a comet. You could just as well not fool with it at all. Space travel is all about speed, fuel, and coasting to your destination making sure you have the fuel to slow down once you’ve reached it and the fuel to return home.
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Riding a comet holds no advantages unless you are using it’s resources to your advantage. Comets are made up on ice and rock. In theory, a comet could be landed on and mined for it’s water to be converted into hydrogen fuel. Your idea might be a good one after. Landing on a comet and hitching a ride while refueling could be a way of exploring the outer solar system, reaching areas not possible without replenishing of fuel and oxygen.
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Most are in a real eccentric orbit . When they are near the sun it could be traveling 200,000 mph. We just cant go that fast yet.
This seems like a very good idea. You could drop some small probes onto one and run experiments, collect data, etc. The comet could shield equipment from rays and space debris, etc.
The thing is, though, it wouldn’t make a very good taxi. Comets move real slow. Halley’s comet is only traveling at 54KM/Second when it rounds the sun (perihelion), whereas the Helios 2 solar probe traveled at 70,220 KM/Second. So, to put that in perspective, if the Helios 2 traveled at that velocity from the sun outward, after a year it would be well past Pluto, whereas it takes about 37 years for Halley’s comet to get just a little further than Neptune.