Neptune Orbiter, Another proposed mission |
Neptune Orbiter, Another proposed mission |
Nov 10 2005, 03:51 PM
Post
#1
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 509 Joined: 2-July 05 From: Calgary, Alberta Member No.: 426 |
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_* |
Dec 10 2005, 06:42 AM
Post
#2
|
Guests |
They definitely won't fly the nuclear-propelled version. Not only would it be gigantically expensive -- Project Prometheus, O'Keefe's brain child (if that's the word for it), has now been cancelled -- but it would actually take considerably longer to reach Neptune than the tremendously cheaper alternative version of this mission, which will reach Neptune with a Jupiter gravity-assist and/or solar-powered ion engines, and then brake into orbit around Neptune with aerocapture. JPL has worked out the design for that one in great detail already, and I think it likely to fly some time before 2030 -- although it will still cost $2 billion or more. (Its main rival for an expensive Solar System launch in the 2020s seems to be a large Europa lander.) At a minimum, it would carry two Neptune entry probes (unless NASA has already taken them to Uranus or Neptune on a cheaper flyby mission) -- but a Triton lander is definitely an optional accessory for it, depending on funds.
|
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 31st October 2024 - 11:24 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |