Uranus and/or Neptune Exploration |
Uranus and/or Neptune Exploration |
Jul 20 2016, 05:29 PM
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#1
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Newbie Group: Members Posts: 15 Joined: 26-March 12 From: San Antonio, Texas Member No.: 6368 |
I'm 49 and will be 50 in January. With the success of New Horizons, being the first humans to ever see Pluto is mind blowing, I was wondering if I/we will ever see a probe or exploration of Uranus and Neptune? Are there any plans for exploring these two planets in the near future?
Thanks, James Sontag -------------------- Axes Grind and Maces Clash!
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May 7 2022, 02:45 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 316 Joined: 1-October 06 Member No.: 1206 |
I imagine the geometry that would allow that kind of trajectory would be very rare.
I wonder if any of the really big KBOs might be in the right position at some stage in the near future? P |
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May 8 2022, 12:13 AM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 251 Joined: 14-January 22 Member No.: 9140 |
There are a lot of KBOs. It wouldn't be difficult at all to have a Neptune flyby continue on to make a targeted flyby of one of them, but there would be a tradeoff between the choice of the desired KBO and the choice of the trajectory through the Neptune system, which would surely make Triton a major priority, but would allow at least some flexibility by choosing where in its orbit Triton would be at encounter time.
But to visit at least one KBO wouldn't be a challenge. I know that the scale is deceptive, but this almost makes it seem like it'd be hard not to come close to one of them after the Neptune encounter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuiper_belt#/...olar_system.png |
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