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 14 2008, 10:40 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 249 Joined: 11-June 05 From: Finland (62°14′N 25°44′E) Member No.: 408 |
But it would have missed Ida and Gaspra, and the cool photos of Earth and Venus.
On the other hand, the main antenna might have worked, and the probe would have followed the SL9 impacts from orbit... -------------------- The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.
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Jan 15 2008, 12:54 AM
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4405 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
Yes, but during the post-Challenger delay and replanning, they also discovered that the rocket motors were defective. Galileo would have gone the way of CONTOUR had it launched in 1986 or 87. In other words, things could have been a whole lot better, but they could have been a thousand times worse.
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