Let's plan a robotic Vulcanoid Asteroid Probe!

[fredinno]

Now, before you ask, "What in the world is Fredinno even talking about?"

 

Let me explain to you what a Vulcanoid Asteroid is:

 

A Vulcanoid is a Asteroid group that is theorized to exist between 0.08-0.21 AU from the Sun- a dynamically stable zone around the Sun, its inner limit being where the Sun's intense radiation does not de-stabilize the asteroid's rotation, and its outer limit being where Mercury's gravity would de-stabilize Asteroids.

 

Despite not known to have any asteroids, it is thought to- Mercury's surface scars, and the existence of many Asteroids in other stable regions, such as the Asteroid Belt, Centaurs (a group of asteroids in between Jupiter and Saturn), and even Trojan (L4 and L5) points are indications that the Vulcanoid Zone is likely scattered with Asteroids. However, finding and studying them is difficult due to the fact that they can only be observed currently during eclipses, where the Sun's glare is cancelled out- though we have determined an upper limit to their mass.

 

Studying these objects would reveal information about the inner-most zone of the Early Solar System's "accretion disk" during its formation- which is relatively unknown, and is thought to be more concentrated in metals than the other regions of the disk.

 

Additionally, such as mission is proven to be possible by using a powerful sun-shield, as Solar Probe Plus, slated for launch in 2018 on a Delta IV Heavy, will be inserted into an orbit that is at approx. 0.3 AU, or the innermost edge of the Vulcanoid Zone.

 

However, such a mission requires a LOT of Delta-V, as indicated by the fact Solar Probe Plus will make 7 gravity assist flybys of Venus for the 610 kg probe to reach its intended orbit. However, keep in mind this probe is only within the Vulcanoid Zone for part of its orbit, meaning Delta-Vs will be even higher than for Solar Probe Plus. Jupiter Gravity assists + SLS are recommended.

 

For this thought experiment, the total Delta-V requirement is 34.95 km/s, or 20km/s higher than Mercury Transfer. The Vulcanian Asteroid is about the size (mass) of Phobos, and is an M-type Asteroid 0.19 AU from the Sun. Good luck!

Edited February 2, 2016 by fredinno

[Findthepin1]

You say it is 0.8-0.21 AU. But Venus and Mercyry are there and would mess up the orbits. Did you mean 0.08-0.21 AU? Also, we have no evidence that the Vulcanoids even exist. Only a stable orbit zone at the predicted distance. 

Edited February 2, 2016 by Findthepin1

[fredinno]

25 minutes ago, Findthepin1 said:

You say it is 0.8-0.21 AU. But Venus and Mercyry are there and would mess up the orbits. Did you mean 0.08-0.21 AU? Also, we have no evidence that the Vulcanoids even exist. Only a stable orbit zone at the predicted distance. 

Yes, that was a typo. And this is a thought experiment.

[Findthepin1]

7 hours ago, fredinno said:

Yes, that was a typo. And this is a thought experiment.

Oh, okay. Lol

Well, if we want to find Vulcanoids, we should send something to Low Sun Orbit (oy vey) and have it point a telescope away from the Sun to look for asteroids outside its lower orbit. I have an idea for an architecture for a probe for this, I will update this post to show it later.

Trust me with the mirrors. It will come in handy for the solar panels. Same with the glass, it should weaken the sunlight that gets to the panels to sane levels that we can deal with. It's redundant because I put more than one of them, but this may be unnecessary because it is at a lower altitude than the Vulcanoids and will orbit faster than them, so it will eventually have scanned all around the area for them. Only issue being that if we make it so there is only one probe, it can only communicate with Earth when it is nearly between Earth and the Sun. It can't turn around to point at Earth in another direction because the sun shield (not labeled but shown) only protects it from sunlight in the direction of the Sun. If the sun shield moves out of the way the probe overheats. If it were at the inner edge of the Vulcanoid zone at 0.08 AU, it would point close to Earth about once every 8.3 days, not accounting for Earth's movement, which by my suspicion puts the time closer to 9 days. 105km/s for a circular orbit and pi*2*0.08 AU is 0.50265 AU. At 105 km/s it would be an orbit of about 8.3 days. If it couldn't turn its antenna, it would have to operate independently for most of that time. We shouldn't make it so it can turn its antenna because it will rotate the rest of the spacecraft a bit and we don't want that, as mentioned above the sun shield might move out of the way and the spacecraft might be roasted.

TL;DR: Spacecraft can be redundant and plural, or contact can be occasional and spacecraft independent, to avoid having our expensive probe fried, roasted, or stewed

Edited February 3, 2016 by Findthepin1
foooood XD

[magnemoe]

As you can point the antenna you can communicate with earth over an larger arch. An phase array antena would be nice as its flat and without moving parts so you could put it around the telescope, should be able to dual use this as an radiator too. 

Glass has the benefit in that you can filter out the frequencies the solar panel don't use, is it an way to filter out infrared? 
Now getting the probe into orbit is the hard part, vasmir sounds good here, issue would be not burning the solar panels as you need much larger ones for the burn than for operation. 
an sort of shield and filter in front of them should work best. 

 

[fredinno]

6 hours ago, Findthepin1 said:

Oh, okay. Lol

Well, if we want to find Vulcanoids, we should send something to Low Sun Orbit (oy vey) and have it point a telescope away from the Sun to look for asteroids outside its lower orbit. I have an idea for an architecture for a probe for this, I will update this post to show it later.

Trust me with the mirrors. It will come in handy for the solar panels. Same with the glass, it should weaken the sunlight that gets to the panels to sane levels that we can deal with. It's redundant because I put more than one of them, but this may be unnecessary because it is at a lower altitude than the Vulcanoids and will orbit faster than them, so it will eventually have scanned all around the area for them. Only issue being that if we make it so there is only one probe, it can only communicate with Earth when it is nearly between Earth and the Sun. It can't turn around to point at Earth in another direction because the sun shield (not labeled but shown) only protects it from sunlight in the direction of the Sun. If the sun shield moves out of the way the probe overheats. If it were at the inner edge of the Vulcanoid zone at 0.08 AU, it would point close to Earth about once every 8.3 days, not accounting for Earth's movement, which by my suspicion puts the time closer to 9 days. 105km/s for a circular orbit and pi*2*0.08 AU is 0.50265 AU. At 105 km/s it would be an orbit of about 8.3 days. If it couldn't turn its antenna, it would have to operate independently for most of that time. We shouldn't make it so it can turn its antenna because it will rotate the rest of the spacecraft a bit and we don't want that, as mentioned above the sun shield might move out of the way and the spacecraft might be roasted.

TL;DR: Spacecraft can be redundant and plural, or contact can be occasional and spacecraft independent, to avoid having our expensive probe fried, roasted, or stewed

Well, Solar Probe Plus apparently has a Wide-field camera that can help detect Vulcanoids.

3 hours ago, magnemoe said:

As you can point the antenna you can communicate with earth over an larger arch. An phase array antena would be nice as its flat and without moving parts so you could put it around the telescope, should be able to dual use this as an radiator too. 

Glass has the benefit in that you can filter out the frequencies the solar panel don't use, is it an way to filter out infrared? 
Now getting the probe into orbit is the hard part, vasmir sounds good here, issue would be not burning the solar panels as you need much larger ones for the burn than for operation. 
an sort of shield and filter in front of them should work best. 

 

Would RTGs work?

[magnemoe]

2 hours ago, fredinno said:

Would RTGs work?

RTG has far to low energy for ion or vasmir, you would need an reactors who need large radiators. My thought was to filter out the frequencies the panels did not use well, this would give let them operate at high efficiency

[More Boosters]

RTGs aren't magic, they aren't used for high power output, they are used for lack of a better alternative at distances. It's solar panels or bust here.

[fredinno]

6 hours ago, More Boosters said:

RTGs aren't magic, they aren't used for high power output, they are used for lack of a better alternative at distances. It's solar panels or bust here.

So then would would put solar panels under maybe a darkened glass sheet?