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NASA thinks it's time to return to Neptune with its Trident mission:
It's been 30 years since NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past the gas giant and its largest moon, and that flyby posed more questions than it answered. Maybe we'll get some answers in 2038, when the positions of Jupiter, Neptune and Triton will be just right for a mission.
NASA is deliberating over the next mission in its Discovery Program, narrowing it down to four possibilities: a mission to study Venus' atmosphere, one to observe volcanic activity on Jupiter's moon Io, one to map Venus' surface and study its geology, and one to explore Neptune's moon Triton.
The conceptual mission to Triton is called Trident, and it's competing with the other three to become a full-fledged mission.
[...] The Trident mission would launch in 2026, taking advantage of a rare and efficient alignment between Jupiter, Neptune, and Triton in 2038. It would do gravity assist fly-bys of Earth, Venus and Jupiter before continuing on to Neptune. All of those fly-bys will propel the spacecraft toward its goal. Then it would perform a fly-by of Neptune and a fly-by of Triton. Sadly, the mission profile doesn't include any orbiters or landers.
The spacecraft's unique path would mean that even with only one fly-by of Triton, it would be able to map the surface of the moon almost completely. It would also be able to fly within 500 km (310 miles) of the surface, right through Triton's thin atmosphere.
[...] The Triton mission is only a concept at this point. And it's competing with three other missions for selection. By summer 2021, NASA will have narrowed the choice down to two finalists, or possibly one winner.
More information:
Mitchell, Prockter, et al. Implementation of Trident: A Discovery Class Mission to Triton. 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference Abstracts. (2019) www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2019/pdf/3200.pdf
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 23 2020, @04:48AM (2 children)
Space probes are better than no space probes, but the next missions to Uranus and Neptune need to be orbiters. Neptune is kind of too far to deploy an orbiter without new technology, but Uranus isn't if you are a little patient so the next outer planet mission should be to Uranus.
There are two ways to get a spacecraft to orbit Neptune, aerobraking and bigger rockets (for slowing down when you get there). If Starship flies by 2025 and NASA starts designing a "big rocket" probe for launch by 2030, it could get there about the same time as this one, with much more capabilities.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday June 23 2020, @01:02PM (1 child)
I'll cross my fingers, but with a launch date of 2026 to make the deadline, it might get locked in.
SpaceX not only has to get Starship operational, lifting payloads, and prove in-orbit refueling works. They should really create some buzz about how it can be used to enhance currently planned or proposed missions (of course replacing SLS whenever that is considered). They can do the calculations and come up with "we can get a Trident orbiter to Neptune five years faster" or "we can launch a non-folded version of JWST to any orbit".
Different launch dates for Trident are mentioned on Wikipedia and NASA/JPL:
If backup is a last resort, that's bad. If not, then there's 5 more months to figure this out.
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(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday June 24 2020, @03:39AM
I agree that orbiters would be better. But, if we can't have that, is it possible to have a trajectory that encounters Neptune twice within a relatively short time of 10 years or so between encounters? Not that another probe into interstellar space wouldn't have some value too.
Really though, we ought to put more effort into propulsion systems, so we have more options. Or, could we miniaturize probes and cut the weight way down so that existing tech can propel them with, say, twice the speed? Longevity is another area to work on. Planet 9, if it exists, is so far away we can't even send a probe there and still have it in working order when it arrives. I would prefer faster, so that by the time Planet 9 is found (5 more years, maybe?), a probe readied and launched (another 3 years?), and arrives (at least 50 years with current tech, if it's near perihelion), I will still be alive to see it.