Talk:Mariner 10

Slingshot?
Regarding the comment that "was the first spacecraft to make use of a 'gravitational slingshot' maneouvre" - didn't Apollo 13 basically do the same thing - the moon is a satellite and not a planet, but it's still the same basic idea. --DMG413 03:28, 29 March 2006 (UTC)


 * actually it was the first to use the maneuver. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.246.204.154 (talk • contribs)


 * What was the difference between what the two did? How does what Apollo 13 not qualify? --DMG413 03:40, 29 March 2006 (UTC)


 * While apollo 13 cartianly changed dirrection it didn't really change it's speed. Our Gravitational slingshot article seems to indicate that the term can only be applied to interplanetry craft.Geni 14:38, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Fate of Mariner 10
So what happened to this thing? Is it dead in orbit? Did it crash and burn up? 162.138.184.71 (talk) 21:36, 17 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Article currently says it's still orbiting the Sun. Tempshill (talk) 21:58, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Can anyone add details of the orbit after the 3rd Mars Mercury flyby ? Even thought no longer communicating, will it make any more close flybys of Mars Mercury ? Rod57 (talk) 03:28, 18 February 2011 (UTC)


 * I don't have any details, but logically it will continue in an orbit which periodically brings it back to the place where Flyby 3 happened. Mercury also comes back to that place periodically. So some day there should be another close encounter. That will change the orbit of Mariner 10, but the new orbit will also come back periodically to that same place, so after who knows how many years there will be a fifth close encounter. This process of occasional close encounters resulting, each resulting in a new orbit which still comes back to the place where Flyby 3 happened, will continue for a long time, centuries I suppose. It's also slightly possible that Mariner will encounter Mercury at a different point, if its orbit crosses that of Mercury at two places, in which case Mariner will periodically come back to this new place of encounter, so new encounters will occur at this place. It seems to me that the only way the process can end is that eventually Mariner 10 will hit Mercury. Eric Kvaalen (talk) 05:10, 7 August 2017 (UTC)

Is there any possibility of reestablishing communications ? Rod57 (talk) 03:28, 18 February 2011 (UTC)


 * No, unfortunately. As mentioned under the End of mission section, the spacecraft exhausted the included propellant.  If the batteries were ok, the transmitter not damaged from radiation, and the overall shape of the spacecraft in decent, there would be a possibility that contact could be made for a very short period if the antenna ever happened to point toward Earth, but that is a lot of ifs, and the outlook is likely bad, especially in relation to radiation damage.  The instruments on the spacecraft are far inferior to that of MESSENGER and the future launching Bepi Columbo anyway.  So on the upside, we don't really need to. :) --Xession (talk) 03:35, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

After the roll control problems in Oct 1974 were any usable images obtained from the 3rd flyby ? Rod57 (talk) 04:36, 18 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Oh I'm sure flyby 3 was completed with success. Don't hold me to that of course but I'm relatively sure. Here is the the briefing for the mission on the PDS for a good general overview of events. Also, if you're really interested in doing some research for this mission, I have a pretty good list of places to start on my user page that would be of good use. --Xession (talk) 04:43, 18 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Thanks, I see the PDS says about 300 photos were taken in the 3rd encounter. That's good enough for me for now. Rod57 (talk) 03:46, 27 February 2011 (UTC)

If the probe is spotted by future Mercury missions, could we retrieve it for preservation as a museum artifact? MS2P (talk) 04:56, 21 December 2020 (UTC)

Why did they turn off the transmitter?

 * Commands were immediately sent to the spacecraft to turn off its transmitter, and radio signals to Earth ceased.

Article should state: Why was this done when the propellant gas ran out? Tempshill (talk) 21:58, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, I'm curious too. The sentence sounds like it was very important and urgent to shut off the transmitter but I kan't see any obvious relation between radio communication and lack of propellant. Thanks 194.174.76.21 (talk) 16:21, 6 December 2016 (UTC) Marco Pagliero Berlin

Hyperbolic Orbit
Perifocal distance           (km)                    3144.969853649

Eccentricity                                           16.687362185

Inclination                  (deg)                     18.178731465

Longitude of ascending node  (deg)                    301.356093378

Argument of periapse         (deg)                    336.485745870

Mean anomaly at epoch        (deg)                     -0.000000000

--108.193.227.46 (talk) 23:25, 15 May 2012 (UTC)

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