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The Ice Giants Pre-Decadal Study group has proposed sending a mission to either Uranus or Neptune. Only one mission is likely to be approved due to a shortage of plutonium-238 for the radioisotope thermoelectric generators required for an outer solar system mission:
Uranus and Neptune have never got much attention from us – we've only passed each once and never hung around. But that could change. A NASA group has now outlined possible missions to make it to one of these outer worlds to gather data on their composition. This should teach us about them and similar planets in other solar systems.
"The preferred mission is an orbiter with an atmospheric probe to either Uranus or Neptune – this provides the highest science value, and allows in depth study of all aspects of either planet's system: rings, satellites, atmosphere, magnetosphere," says Amy Simon, co-chair of the Ice Giants Pre-Decadal Study group.
There are four proposed missions – three orbiters and a fly-by of Uranus, which would include a narrow angle camera to draw out details, especially of the ice giant's moons. It would also drop an atmospheric probe to take a dive into Uranus's atmosphere to measure the levels of gas and heavy elements there.
The three must-haves for each orbiter mission are a narrow-angle camera, a doppler imager and a magnetometer, while an orbiter containing 15 instruments would add plasma detectors, infrared and UV imaging, dust detection and microwave radar capability. The orbiter could be either a Neptune mission with an atmospheric probe, a Uranus probe of the same design, or a craft sent to a[sic] Uranus that ditches the atmospheric probe for the suite of 15 instruments.
Moon values: Neptune's Triton vs. Uranus's Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel, and Miranda (all rounded by gravity).
Obligatory grade school humor:
NASA wants to probe Uranus in search of gas
NASA wants to probe deeper into Uranus than ever before
Also at The Verge.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday June 20 2017, @11:57AM (3 children)
If lack of plutonium is crimping these plans, seems there ought to be alternatives, and there are. Americium-241 is the leading alternative.
Hope I live to see it. The article talks of the journey taking 14 years, and they might not launch before the 2030s. 30 years is a long time to wait, particularly when we all know this could be given higher priority. Really should have sent orbiters to the ice giants years ago.
Then there's Planet 9 to think about. The tech suitable for an orbiter of Uranus or Neptune is not adequate for Planet 9. Planet 9 at its closest is thought to be at least 6 times further out than Neptune, making for almost a century of travel time. It's more likely to be as bad as 40x the distance to Neptune. The RTG power supplies we use now don't last that long. Sending the orbiter faster makes it much harder to enter orbit. Don't think our tech is up to that mission.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:35PM
Considering the size of "space", it might be a good plan to pinpoint planet 9 before trying to send something there ;) but still, plenty of exciting stuff to explore!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 20 2017, @06:18PM (1 child)
Your biggest assumption is that Planet 9 exists at all.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday June 20 2017, @08:25PM
After listening to one of Michael Brown's recent talks, I'm on board.
If it's not real, it should become clear pretty soon since they have narrowed its hypothetical location to a very small patch of the night sky.
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