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Trident, a NASA low cost mission to Triton
MarcF
post Mar 23 2019, 09:22 AM
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists proposed a new low cost mission to Triton, to check for the presence of an internal ocean inside the moon.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/19/science/...sa-trident.html

"Unlike multibillion dollar proposals for spacecraft that the agency has usually sent to the outer solar system, this spacecraft, named Trident, aims to be far less expensive, the mission’s scientists and engineers said, or the price of a small mission to the moon."

To get to Triton, the spacecraft would fly in a fast, straight trajectory after an orbital assist from Jupiter, similar to the flyby that was used by the New Horizons spacecraft to visit Pluto in 2015. It would rely on a payload of scientific instruments to conduct ocean detection and atmospheric and ionospheric science. The spacecraft would photograph the entirety of Triton, which is the largest object in the solar system that has not yet been fully imaged.
Timing is also critical because of the moon’s changing seasons as Neptune makes its orbit around the sun.

“In order to view the plumes that Voyager saw in 1989, we have to encounter Triton before 2040,” said Dr. Mitchell. Otherwise, because of the positions of the objects in their orbits, Triton will not be illuminated again for over eighty years.

Link to original abstract:
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018DPS....5011415P

Fingers crossed !
Regards,
Marc.
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scalbers
post Feb 19 2021, 08:16 PM
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Station's rendition seems consistent with small optical thickness of Triton's atmosphere, though it might be slightly more visible. Looking near the horizon it should look brighter especially in the direction of the sun.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi....1029/92JE00945

The size of the haze particles suggests a bluish color of preferential scattering due to the Angstrom exponent effect. Any methane gas absorption, or absorption by the haze particles could modify this color.


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Posts in this topic
- MarcF   Trident, a NASA low cost mission to Triton   Mar 23 2019, 09:22 AM
- - antipode   Interesting, thanks Phil. Would be nice to have a ...   Jun 20 2020, 03:01 AM
- - Webscientist   Here is a simulated view of Neptune from the surfa...   Dec 29 2020, 01:13 PM
|- - JRehling   That's a powerful image! Triton would be g...   Dec 30 2020, 05:13 PM
|- - Webscientist   Thanks, A way for me to explore in advance that my...   Dec 30 2020, 08:39 PM
- - titanicrivers   Fascinating image Webscientist! The foregroun...   Dec 31 2020, 06:44 PM
|- - Webscientist   QUOTE (titanicrivers @ Dec 31 2020, 07:44...   Dec 31 2020, 09:37 PM
- - Station   Here goes my rendition about lander (in this case ...   Feb 19 2021, 11:17 AM
|- - Marcin600   QUOTE (Station @ Feb 19 2021, 12:17 PM) ....   Feb 19 2021, 07:43 PM
|- - Webscientist   Thanks Station for your nice art work. The crescen...   Feb 22 2021, 10:26 AM
- - scalbers   Station's rendition seems consistent with smal...   Feb 19 2021, 08:16 PM
- - Station   Fantasy continues This time I created something ...   Feb 22 2021, 01:54 PM
- - titanicrivers   Possibly, that explorer is close to Verona Rupes (...   Feb 23 2021, 08:42 PM
- - Phil Stooke   Often misrepresented! That cliff is a talus d...   Feb 24 2021, 12:17 AM
- - titanicrivers   Thanks Phil. Should have searched UMSF first to f...   Feb 24 2021, 05:01 PM
- - JohnVV   the renderings got me thinking , so... a crop fro...   Feb 26 2021, 03:01 AM
- - antipode   Hi Phil Sorry if this is getting a bit OT, but re...   Feb 26 2021, 03:36 AM


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