Onwards to Uranus and Neptune! |
Onwards to Uranus and Neptune! |
Jan 12 2008, 09:40 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 813 Joined: 8-February 04 From: Arabia Terra Member No.: 12 |
As soon as MESSENGER gets to Mercury, the most poorly explored planets in the solar system will be Uranus and Neptune. Could this lead to a revival of interest in the ice giants and their retinue, in the same way that the existence of New Horizons is perhaps partly due to the Pluto stamp*?
*via Pluto Fast Flyby and later Pluto Kuiper Express |
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Jan 13 2008, 06:18 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1018 Joined: 29-November 05 From: Seattle, WA, USA Member No.: 590 |
How much of the cost of one of these missions is the launch vehicle? Is it possible that the Falcon 9 Heavy could be enough to put a Neptune (or Uranus) orbiter under the New Frontiers ceiling?
--Greg |
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Jan 13 2008, 10:40 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
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Jan 14 2008, 03:08 PM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 34 Joined: 9-January 06 Member No.: 639 |
One tradeoff with orbiter missions is how long we can tolerate the cruise phase to be. With a flyby, it's not such an issue, but with an orbiter, the faster you get there, the more fuel (or heatshield) that you need to slam on the brakes at the end of the cruise. A minimum-energy trajectory to Neptune is prohibitive unless we expect the people running the mission at the onset to be retired (or dead) by the time the science mission begins. The more we shave off of that cruise, the more mass problems intrude. That's one big factor in Uranus's favor -- it's 11 AU closer. Personally, I see Uranus as the better target. Though Neptune may have more to offer, it's just too distant for an orbiter mission, barring some miracle advancement in technology. For instance, the Hohmann transfer time to Neptune is 40 years, while the time to Uranus is 16 years. I see no problem with designing a probe to last a couple decades (16 year trip time + 4 year length of primary mission) for a Uranus mission. Besides, there's always the possibility of a mission profile similar to that of Cassini, involving Venus, Earth, and Jupiter that could shorten the trip time somewhat. Later! J P |
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