3 ms·
> 16.1 km/s to get to Mercury That's if you want to slingshot yourself to Mercury with no fuel though, right? If you have fuel then you can keep going to Merc
by dheera 5y ago
> 16.1 km/s to get to Mercury
That's if you want to slingshot yourself to Mercury with no fuel though, right?
If you have fuel then you can keep going to Mercury at a steady 0.1 km/s by constantly firing rockets to maintain that speed, and get there eventually.
You don't need escape velocity to leave the Earth either; you only need escape velocity if you want to maintain orbit without constantly firing rockets.
- bagels 5y agoThese are delta-v numbers. How much do you need to change your velocity by to get there, basically. I think your comment misunderstands inertia and orbital dynamics, but it's hard to follow what you propose doing differently than your basic earth escape + transfer.
- neurostimulant 5y agoYou can burn your rocket engine in short powerful burst or in long gentle burst, but delta-v calculation still applies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta-v https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta-v