Neptune Orbiter, Another proposed mission Options

[Rob Pinnegar]

This seems like a good place to start off the Uranus and Neptune forum: with the next ice-giants mission.

I will admit to not knowing a whole lot about the Neptune Orbiter With Probes (NOWP), other than the fact that it's in the planning stages, and a few other details I've gathered from Wikipedia and various other Internet sources. Anyone care to get this one going with a bit more information?

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

That's another reason why, given the likely delay for the Neptune Orbiter, it might indeed be wise to previously fly a simpler ice-giant flyby mission with entry probes -- but to aim that mission at Uranus instead of Neptune. (Especially given the recent idea, which is very rapidly gaining momentum, that the first entry-probe mission to any of the three outer giant planets will be very much worthwhile scientifically even if it only penetrates to about the 20-40 bar level instead of 100 or more bars -- which would make it a much easier mission to fly. 100-bar Uranus and Neptune probes -- unlike such for Jupiter and Saturn -- don't have to contend with high temperatures at that level and so can be vented rather than armored in design, but they still have major communications problems compared with higher-altitude probes.)