Scientists, including New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, met in Houston on April 24th to discuss the possibility of a Pluto orbiter mission. The mission would likely cost $1-2 billion, compared to around $700 million for New Horizons and $467 million for the Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres. A launch date in the late 2020s is possible, with a 2030 launch coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Pluto's discovery:
[A] Pluto orbiter mission is a long way from becoming reality, Stern stressed. He said he and his fellow researchers aim to mature the concept in time for it to be considered during the next Planetary Science Decadal Survey, a U.S. National Research Council effort that sets exploration priorities for NASA every 10 years. The next decadal survey will start in 2020, finish in 2022 and be published in 2023, Stern said.
Using the Space Launch System (SLS) could reduce travel time compared to the nine-and-half-year journey of New Horizons, but braking would be required to orbit the Pluto-Charon system, increasing the total travel time back to around seven to nine years. Other missions being considered include flybys of more distant Kuiper Belt dwarf planets (Eris, Sedna, etc.) and exploration of Neptune's moons Triton and Nereid, which are likely captured Kuiper Belt Objects. Triton has about a 14% larger radius and 64% more mass than Pluto. Voyager 2 observed 40% of Triton's surface in 1989.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Thursday May 18 2017, @09:41PM (3 children)
An orbiter for Pluto is cool and all, but I'd really prefer Neptune first. Especially, as pointed out in the summary, with Neptune's moon Triton probably being from the same class of objects as Pluto.
Planet 9, if and when it is found, is so far away it will be a challenge to reach. A New Horizons clone can't do it. Might need a century or more to reach Planet 9 at the same speed as New Horizons, and its power supply won't last that long. We could send a far smaller probe at a much faster speed, but then it will only be able to do a flyby, not enter orbit.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday May 18 2017, @09:46PM
Neptune's moons would likely be more interesting than Neptune itself.
People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday May 18 2017, @11:02PM
It seems like NASA will always prefer Jupiter and Saturn missions over even one new mission to Uranus and Neptune (Voyager 2 visited both). You can get a spacecraft to Jupiter substantially quicker, and Europa and Enceladus are priority targets due to the possibility of life under the surface.
Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer [wikipedia.org] and Europa Clipper [wikipedia.org] launch in 2022.
Obviously we have to take a deep breath and find Planet Nine first (making sure it exists and locating it). The good news there is that the James Webb Space Telescope will (hopefully) launch next year, providing far better imagery of Planet Nine and any of its moons than other telescopes could.
Maybe it would be easier to insert an orbiter at Planet Nine than at Pluto due to Planet Nine's larger gravity. Increased velocity of the spacecraft could counteract that though.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @12:00AM
We need to think outside the box guys. While you punks bicker about Neptune and Uranaus, the rest of the Universe is sitting there waiting for us to discover it. In a few short billion years we could understand the cosmos. Neptune's moons will seem so pathetic in hindsight. Give up!