Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2015/04/30/mercury-orbiter-retired-after.html
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Godspeed little dude. Nice work out there.
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But the Hermians were proud of their bizarre planet, with its days longer than its years, its double sunrises and sunsets, its rivers of molten metal…
-Arthus C. Clarke, Rendezvous With Rama
And proud with good reason. The idea of being a “Hermian” appealed to me, even though I’m the exact opposite of the stereotype Clarke described.
I don’t understand the value of having probe collide with the planet.
You’re ashamed of your planet?
It meant they didn’t have to pack enough fuel to send it into an extra-solar orbit for which it wasn’t designed, anyway.
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Designing it to leave orbit after that long would be more expensive. I think that is the value.
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It would have been better to pack more fuel an put it in a stable orbit, IMHO.
" I think I’ll call it ‘Ground’! I wonder if it’ll be friends with me?"
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There is no such thing as a stable orbit there–it’s so close to the sun that the sun messes with the orbit.
What I don’t understand is the title saying “retired”. They know they are going to lose it, that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to monitor it until the very end.
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For SCIENCE!
The usual reason for the crash impact is so that they can train telescopes on the impact site and hopefully learn a little more about the composition of the ejecta. One of the “recent” Lunar orbiters was crashed into a deep crater with hopes that it would toss up some ice…
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You asked what the value was. I guessed. You’re welcome.
But, there’s got to be a place to park the solar powered laser cannons! Aren’t there Lagrange points for the mercury-sol combo?
I call shenanigans. It’s NASA’s version of a demolition derby. Everybody loves to watch car crashes.
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