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How long would it take to get to Earth from Mercury?
about 40 days
It would take about 40 days to get from the Earth to Mercury when they’re closest. Of course, spacecraft don’t travel a straight route between planets, they follow a path that uses the least amount of energy, and so it takes them longer… a lot longer.
How fast does Mercury travel?
It speeds around the Sun every 88 days, traveling through space at nearly 29 miles (47 kilometers) per second, faster than any other planet. Mercury spins slowly on its axis and completes one rotation every 59 Earth days.
How long does it take to get to Mercury from Earth?
How long it would take to travel to Mercury would depend on where Earth and Mercury were in their orbits at the time a spacecraft started its journey from Earth, and also on the path chosen. For example, Mariner 10 was launched on November 3, 1973 and it arrived at Mercury on March 29, 1974. Continue the conversation on Twitter Facebook Contact Us
What’s the average speed of the planet Mercury?
Deep in the sun’s gravitational well, Mercury is the planet most subject to the sun’s powerful grip. The closer a planet gets to the sun, the faster it has to travel to balance the pull of gravity. Mercury travels at an average speed of 106,000 mph.
How long did it take Mariner 10 to get to Mercury?
It made its first Mercury flyby on March 29, 1974. Mariner 10 took 147 days to get from Earth to Mercury. More recently, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft launched on August 3, 2004 to study Mercury in orbit.
How long did it take messenger to get to Mercury?
It made its first flyby on January 14th, 2008. That’s a total of 1,260 days to get from Earth to Mercury. So why did MESSENGER take so long? Engineers want the spacecraft to go into orbit around Mercury, and so it needs to be traveling at a slow enough velocity to be able to get into orbit without just flying past.