Low Jupiter Orbit

[cellregen]

I'm planning to write a hard sci-fi story about a He-3 mining operation in Jupiter. I'm thinking of a low-orbiting space station that only needs periodic boosts to counter the effects of atmospheric drag (ala ISS). Does anybody have an idea about the minimum planetary radius (distance from planet center) and speed (mph) required to attain the Jupiter equivalent of Low Earth Orbit?

 

[3488]

Hi cellregen,<br /><br />Welcome to SDC, great first post.<br /><br />AFAIK, the high gravity of Jupiter makes the atmosphere fairly shallow only about<br />110 KM deep above the 1 Bar level, with total depth of the atmosphere about <br />1,000 KM, where the atmosphere, turns into something more liquid like.<br /><br />Jupiter atmospheric structure.<br /><br />Low Jupiter orbit speed 215,796 KPH / 134,118 MPH.<br /><br />Hope this helps.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[thebigcat]

Hey, <b>cellregen</b>. I thought of something else you might consider. Instead of a Low Jupiter Orbit, how about a combination of atmospheric braking and gravity slingshot.<br /><br />Here's how it would work. Start with an an object falling in towards Jupiter. But not the planet itself. Instead it would aim for one of the Galiean moons, making a close pass to accelerate further and aiming for another close pass with another of the moons after passing through Jupiter's upper atmosphere. It would harvest atmo on the way through, compressing it, with the He-3 being later separated out from the other atmospheric gasses, which saved for maneuvering thrust. On the way out it would rendezvous with the target moon, do another near pass which would send it into a high lob orbit. At the apsis, when relative motion to the planet is least, the mining ship could free link with a station where the He-3 could be transfered off before beginning it's plunge to another harvesting pass.<br /><br />In theory it is sound. In practice it would be tricky but do-able. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>