Neptune Orbiter, Another proposed mission |
Neptune Orbiter, Another proposed mission |
Nov 10 2005, 03:51 PM
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#101
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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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Mar 28 2007, 11:36 PM
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#102
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1018 Joined: 29-November 05 From: Seattle, WA, USA Member No.: 590 |
Here's a question: why is the distance such a big deal? The energy difference between getting to Saturn and getting to Neptune shouldn't be that great. I may have computed this wrong, but it looks to me like the Saturn-to-Neptune potential energy difference is just 1/12 of the Earth-to-Saturn difference.
Clearly it takes a lot longer to get there, but how much of the cost of a mission is the cruise time? I'd expect that to be pretty small compared to the up-front probe cost and the data analysis cost at the end. In fact, it seems that if we really did want to study all the outer planets, it'd be most cost-effective to make 4 of the same probe and send them off to all four gas giants more or less at once, then process the results over a period of years as they arrive. But even if (as I know) we can't do that, I'm still puzzled why a Neptune probe would be more than (say) 20% more than an equivalent Saturn probe. Error in my math? Or some other factor I'm missing? --Greg |
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