Fraser Cain on Nostr: You might be surprised to learn that solar sails work especially well when you need ...
You might be surprised to learn that solar sails work especially well when you need to get closer to the Sun. A new mission proposal called Mercury Scout hopes to take advantage of this and send a solar sail to the Solar System's innermost planet. In addition to scanning the surface of Mercury to a resolution of 1 meter, the spacecraft's mirror-like sail could reflect sunlight into permanently shadowed craters, revealing deposits of water ice.
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2024/pdf/2314.pdf 
Published at
2024-03-19 18:53:03Event JSON
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"content": "You might be surprised to learn that solar sails work especially well when you need to get closer to the Sun. A new mission proposal called Mercury Scout hopes to take advantage of this and send a solar sail to the Solar System's innermost planet. In addition to scanning the surface of Mercury to a resolution of 1 meter, the spacecraft's mirror-like sail could reflect sunlight into permanently shadowed craters, revealing deposits of water ice. \n\nhttps://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2024/pdf/2314.pdf\n\nhttps://m.universetoday.com/system/media_attachments/files/112/123/863/572/736/347/original/29d5c05de4448f41.jpg",
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