Neptune Orbiter, Another proposed mission |
Neptune Orbiter, Another proposed mission |
Nov 10 2005, 03:51 PM
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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? |
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Guest_vjkane2000_* |
Mar 3 2007, 05:53 PM
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Guests |
It is so difficult to get a craft to Neptune in a reasonable about of time (very high speeds are needed) and then slow it down enough to enter orbit (aerocapture appears to be required). You can probably solve the first problem by waiting to use a Jupiter gravity assist or a solar electric ion "boost stage". However, that aerocapture means that whatever you do will be a new design and new technology. At that point, there's probably good reason to spend more on the orbiter and instruments to get more bang from the bucks. As marvelous as the NH instruments are, heavier instruments built with the same level of technology would provide a higher science return.
If you want an inexpensive mission that could fly sometime in the reasonable near future, you could certainly take the core elements of NH and attach an atmospheric probe for a flyby mission. From what I understand of Triton's orbit, though, you can probably either have a close flyby of Triton or Neptune, but not both. Perhaps someone here knows. I also don't know if the relay from the atmospheric probe can be reasonably done if you go for the Triton flyby. |
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Guest_AlexBlackwell_* |
Mar 5 2007, 07:08 PM
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#3
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Guests |
It is so difficult to get a craft to Neptune in a reasonable about of time (very high speeds are needed) and then slow it down enough to enter orbit (aerocapture appears to be required). You can probably solve the first problem by waiting to use a Jupiter gravity assist or a solar electric ion "boost stage". However, that aerocapture means that whatever you do will be a new design and new technology. For those with access, there is a pretty interesting paper in press with Advances in Space Research: A Study of Trajectories to the Neptune System Using Gravity Assists Adv. Space Res., In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 1 March 2007 C.R.H. Solórzano, A.A. Sukhanov and A.F.B.A. Prado Abstract
I believe this paper was presented at the recent 2007 AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting in Sedona, Arizona. |
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