Challenge Earth-Venus to Mercury

[perseus]

Hello, I am finding difficulty to reach Mercury, with gravity assist at Venus, as in the case of Mariner 10, a single step by venus placed it in an orbit interception of Venus, but find difficulty establishing an analogue plan, anyone has recommendations and windows for such a trip?

 

[boogabooga]

[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=5418"]Trajectory Optimization Tool v2.1[/ame]

TRAJECTORY OPTIMIZATION TOOL v2
Optimization Report - 29-Apr-2013 07:34:49
Flight Plan: EarthVenusMercury2020s(2_5_3)
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RESULTS
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OPTIMUM EARTH DEPARTURE DATE: 11/6/2026 23:13:17 - C3: 23.7011 km²/sec²
OPTIMUM VENUS SWINGBY DATE: 4/19/2027 2:2:2 - Powered Delta-V Required: 3.2051e-006 km/sec
OPTIMUM MERCURY ARRIVAL DATE: 8/29/2027 16:48:56 - Body-centric Arrival Velocity: 9.7144 km/sec

TOTAL COST: 76.5452879


ORBITAL ELEMENTS - J2000 Ecliptic Reference Frame
--------------------------------
LEG 1 (Number of Full Revolutions: 0)
-Semi-major Axis: 115932855.0054043 km
-Eccentricity: 0.2800488
-Inclination: 2.8754578 deg
-Long. of Ascending Node: 44.2347977 deg
-Argument of Periapse: 176.2990142 deg
-True Anomaly (start): 183.6494329 deg
-True Anomaly (end): 93.9358416 deg

LEG 2 (Number of Full Revolutions: 0)
-Semi-major Axis: 92190316.9100125 km
-Eccentricity: 0.3298355
-Inclination: 3.1714324 deg
-Long. of Ascending Node: 69.4435780 deg
-Argument of Periapse: 106.8876476 deg
-True Anomaly (start): 138.1723174 deg
-True Anomaly (end): 36.2324347 deg



GENETIC ALGORITHM INFORMATION
--------------------------------
Termination Reason: Average change in trajectory fitness function less than tolerance. 
Number of Generations Computed: 51.0 
Number of Fitness Function Evaluations: 8355.0 
Random Number Generator Type: mt19937ar

I was able to fly this in IMFD with no problems last spring. It's a fun challenge. I would recommend to set the IMFD Map to adaptive-ON so that you can use it before the Venus swing-by to plot your course that will intercept Mercury.

Unfortunately, I haven't found any combination of encounters that will lower the Mercury encounter velocity below 9.7 km/s anytime in the 2020s, when I like to fly interplanetary missions.

 

[dgatsoulis]

Is your goal to simply flyby Mercury, or do you want to stay there?

If it's a flyby, I highly recommend flytandem's Mercury free return.

It's a bit expensive, but a very fun scenario to fly, slinging Mercury's "tree-tops" and getting back to Earth in a free ride.

For finding a window:
Since you want to make something similar to the Mariner 10 mission, all you have to do is to check the date of launch for Mariner 10 (3 Nov 1973) and see the position of the planets.
Best use IMFD's map program, so you can see all 3 planets at the same time.

Then advance the date forward with the scenario editor, until the 3 planets are in a similar position.