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 22 2008, 10:19 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1870 Joined: 20-February 05 Member No.: 174 |
"I'd argue that Galileo was Mariner 13 and Cassini is Mariner 14."
You left two out: Magellan was Mariner 14 and Galileo was Mariner 15. There are also two "Honerable Mention Mariners": the two Viking Orbiters. I have a rather technical but straightforward technical point that this is based on. ALL, repeat, ALL, the Mariner and Mariner like spacecraft up to Galileo used a polygonal ring shaped set of electronics and equipment bays as the "core" of the spacecraft. EVERYTHING else, damn near, was attached to the ring. On Mariner 4 (as the classiest example of the layout) solar panels were mounted on 4 of the 8 sides of the octagon (number of bays varied from design to design), antenna and magnetometer boom on the sunside, scan platform on the anti-solar-side. Mariner 9 mounted a bit set of fuel tanks and a rocket engine on the sunside, scan platform on the cold side, solar panels as usual. Viking orbiters added the attached bioshield and lander on the cold side, scan platform on the side of the enlarged polygon. Voyagers had no solar panels, RTG booms and scan platform on the sides instead, mounted the big antenna on the solar side. Magellan stuck a monstrously large radar electronics box between the (Voyager derived) antenna and the (I think Voyager derived) electronics bay ring. Galileo was the last to carry the electronics bay ring, despun scan platform on the cold side, the @#$#@ antenna on the sun side. It's spinning attitude control didn't change the fact that it was essentially a Mariner. Cassini is the first "Mariner" that uses the modern "brick" shaped rectangular box for the main spacecraft body. |
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