The Henrietta Barnett School London-Barnet United Kingdom 17 years old, 16 years old 2 / 2 English Mercury
External link for Tinkercad 3D design
Our proposed settlement Novis will act as a transport hub to supply and receive goods from the Hermian surface. Located in a 200 km orbit above Mercury, it will make use of multiple propulsion systems and innovative structural capacities that will allow it to maintain orbit at a velocity of 2889.12 m/s and have an orbital period of 1.595 hours. We have chosen an orbital inclination of 98 degrees. This is a polar sun synchronous orbit. This parameter means that the orbital plane precesses with nearly the same period as the planet’s solar orbit. The planet rotated below a polar orbit, thus allowing the settlement access to a varied number of points on the Hermian surface. This orbit is also sun synchronous, so the spacecraft crosses periapsis at about the same local time every orbit, hence achieving similar angles of solar illumination, which is useful for the Meteo Astronomique device and the energy generation systems we have onboard, such as the solar panels. Furthermore, we have chosen a near zero eccentricity, which will make it easier for communication systems and speed maintenance throughout all points of the orbit.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1E00ljWldgm2FPhJXE-sExmZ4g_K6M6c6?usp=sharing
