Mercury-P

Mercury-P (Russian: Меркурий-П) is a mission concept for an orbiter and lander by the Russian Federal Space Agency to study the planet Mercury.[1] The initial study suggested a launch in 2024, [1] but because of crash of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, the implementation period was postponed to the 2030s.[1] The letter P in Mercury-P, stands for the Russian word 'posadka', meaning landing.[1]

Mercury-P

Artist's rendering of the Mercury-P spacecraft
Mission type	Planetary reconnaissance
Operator	Russian Federal Space Agency
Spacecraft properties
BOL mass	8,120 kg[1]
Landing mass	710 kg [2]
Payload mass	Lander: 40 kg [2] Orbiter: 50 kg[1]
Start of mission
Launch date	Circa 2024 [3][4]
Rocket	Soyuz-2[1]
Mercury orbiter
Mercury lander

Mercury-P would be the first soft lander on Mercury. A proposed flight scenario for the mission included a flyby of Venus, the insertion of the spacecraft into the orbit around Mercury and the delivery of a lander on its surface. The Institute of Space Research studied the possibility of "recycling" hardware developed for the Phobos-Grunt, Mars-NET, Mars-96, and Solar Sail spacecraft, with proposed upgrades of the hardware.[1] As of 2012, Russian scientists have conducted a preliminary concept study of the project, and compiled a list of the required scientific payload.[1][3]