OPAG Reports, Formal proposals/evaluations of future outer SS missions |
OPAG Reports, Formal proposals/evaluations of future outer SS missions |
Nov 9 2007, 08:28 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/opag/announcements.html
That's one little URL with a lifetime's worth of reading material. Three detailed studies are available in PDF format. The missing body is Titan, which will be the subject of a forthcoming report. The three focus missions are: Europa Explorer: Fairly detailed description of a mission that is pretty much what Europa Orbiter would have been. Jupiter System Observer: Basically, Galileo 2 (without the antenna mishap!). The craft would start with a 3-year tour of all the Galileans, then spend 1 year in an elliptical Ganymede orbit, then the rest of the mission in a tight, polar Ganymede orbit (like MGS at Mars). That would map the heck out of Ganymede, but also be close enough to the rest of the system to make long-range observations for years. Note that Ganymede would thereby provide a lot of radiation shielding. Enceladus: where three profiles are examined in depth: Enceladus Orbiter only; Enceladus Orbiter with soft lander; Saturn orbiter with Enceladus soft lander. There's more to chew on here than I have had (or may ever have) time for, but I'll throw in my two cents' worth: Seems like a Europa-only mission would only benefit from coming after a JSO. EE would explore Europa much better than JSO would; why even have JSO observations at Europa if EE came first? In many ways, these two missions are competitive. EE would have the big payoff, but JSO seems like basic recon that would prime EE, especially giving specs on radar performance. But if we waited til JSO was 4 years into its mission before completing design of EE, then put EE sometime mid-century. If an Enceladus mission included a Saturn orbiter, then maybe the same orbiter could provide data relay for separate Titan elements. However, a lot of the Enceladus science goals would require an Enceladus orbiter, so I don't think a Saturn orbiter for Enceladus/Titan will win out. Note that Enceladus orbital velocity is low enough that the craft could manage to take lots of hits from ice pellets and survive. Put a bulletproof vest on the craft and let it soar through the plumes endlessly. |
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Feb 13 2009, 03:46 PM
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14433 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
New Horizons will fill the gap a little bit
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Feb 13 2009, 05:54 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
New Horizons will fill the gap a little bit Oh, you betcha! If I occasionally sound melancholy or morose over the fact that some planned missions will come too late for me, please forgive me -- I am far and away happier having lived through the early years of space exploration than I would be having to just read about our initial lunar and planetary explorations in books. As for which of the upcoming outer planet flagship missions comes first, I guess I'm not all that picky. I tend a little more towards the Titan lander concepts, simply because I enjoy seeing an alien planet/moon from its surface, and the current Jupiter mission proposals don't include any landers. But a really good Jupiter orbiter, concentrating on the moons, would provide a lot of grist for my sense-of-wonder mill, too. I'll be happy to see either of them. -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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