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?

[mimile]

There have been many good answers to the question of prograde / retrograde orbit for the spacecraft. Let me add one point :

If the spacecraft is in a retrograde orbit (same direction as Triton), it will fly by Triton with a smaller relative velocity. Thus Triton is able to deflect it by a larger angle, and there is a larger maneuvering capacity : Triton can send the spacecraft on a wider set of orbits.

On another point, visiting Nereid, I think there is no need to do it only once before aerobraking. Nereid has a VERY eccentric orbit around Neptune (0.75) : its minimum approach to Neptune is about 1.4 million km, only 4 times the size of Triton's orbit. this can easily be reached using Triton flybys. For example, at Saturn, recall Iapetus orbit radius is 3.6 million km and Titan's 1.2 million. And there are Two flybys, one distant already done, one close this year. True : it is easier in this case because Iapetus orbit is circular. But I'm pretty sure at least one close flyby of Nereid could be arranged.