Uranus Orbiter, The other proposed ice-giant mission |
Uranus Orbiter, The other proposed ice-giant mission |
Nov 11 2005, 05:13 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 509 Joined: 2-July 05 From: Calgary, Alberta Member No.: 426 |
Since the Neptune Orbiter thread has started to veer into talking about a Uranus orbiter as well, it seemed like a good idea to start a topic for Uranus.
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Sep 22 2007, 12:12 PM
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#2
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14448 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Sounds great! You paying?
Seriously - that'd be an ideal way to do it - but if they can't find money to do one of them, they're not going to be able to find the money to do both. Doug |
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Sep 22 2007, 06:14 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
Sounds great! You paying? Seriously - that'd be an ideal way to do it - but if they can't find money to do one of them, they're not going to be able to find the money to do both. Doug Yes, I think just about any Outer SS science is looking marginal these days. Only the heavy-hitters (Europa, Titan, Enceladus, Jupiter and Saturn themselves) have a good shot at attention. I will always be somewhat heartbroken that NH2 didn't come to pass, because the uranian flyby would have done an awful lot to address post-Voyager science there. With the extreme inclination and long seasons, the uranian satellites lose a lot of value as a potential target for the next *wince* 84 years. Given how long it was between Mariner 10 and Messenger, that sadly doesn't seem like such a long time. I think the opportunistic use of a flyby en route to some deep-space (heliosphere) mission is the best bet that Uranus has, if we get a mission where the direction doesn't matter so much as the distance and we may as well point the ship at Uranus just to take advantage (and get a little gravity assist). But even such a mission would only carry nice camera in order to take imagery at Uranus, so it's not a total freebie. Neptune/Triton carry a bit more clout, and lack the extreme seasonal constraints of Uranus, and I guess they'll get their closeup in, oh, about 30-40 years or so. |
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