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. The letter P in Mercury-P stands for the Russian word 'posadka', meaning landing.
History 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 (possibly by use of a Dvina solar-electric tug), 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. As of 2012, Russian scientists have conducted a preliminary concept study of the project, and compiled a list of the required scientific payload. As a result of the failure of the Phobos-Grunt, several Russian planetary exploration proposals derived from its design were delayed into the 2030s, including Mercury-P.
See also Exploration of Mercury Mariner 10 MESSENGER BepiColombo
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