Onwards to Uranus and Neptune! Options

[SFJCody]

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

[dvandorn]

You know, Nick, unlike a lot of the people here, you and I can recall when NASA and JPL were pushing hard to get the Grand Tour mission approved. I remember when it was first proposed in the late '60s, I remember when it was canceled, and I remember how elated I felt when its poor second cousin, a simple Jupiter/Saturn flyby, was "tweaked" into something approximating the original GT mission.

Also, IIRC, Voyager 2 could have been targeted for a Pluto flyby, thus completing the original GT mission plan -- but it would have lost its close flyby of Triton. The Pluto option was still possible after the Uranus encounter (though close to the limits of the remaining delta-V in the vehicle), but the craft was deteriorating (scan platform issues, among other things) to the extent that the decision -- and I think the right one -- was made to maximize science during the Neptune encounter.

When it came to deciding between doing as complete a recon of the Neptune system as possible with the healthiest spacecraft you could manage, or giving up Triton on the hope you'd still be operating well (or at all) when you got to Pluto, I think they did make the right decision.

-the other Doug

[nprev]

When it came to deciding between doing as complete a recon of the Neptune system as possible with the healthiest spacecraft you could manage, or giving up Triton on the hope you'd still be operating well (or at all) when you got to Pluto, I think they did make the right decision.

-the other Doug

...approaching geezerhood does have its advantages! I agree, oDoug, but IIRC (fading memory, not sure it's accurate), a Pluto flyby was off the table for both Voyagers after Saturn. V1 would have had to give up its close Titan encounter, and V2 would have had to have made some kind of ungodly close approach to Neptune, perhaps even within its atmosphere...in any case, not feasible.

Must confess that in my heart of hearts I'll always think of them as Mariners 11 and 12...the proud cumulation of an historic series of spacecraft that gave us the initial recon of the Solar System. (When you get to be a geezer, you get sentimental easily.. )