The Great Planet Debate conference, August 2008 - Washington DC Options

[JRehling]

Probably some perfect "grand tour" type alignment, where each spacecraft-planet encounter is as close-in to the planet as possible for a departure trajectory that's approximately tangent to the planet's orbit or as close to tangent as possible.

Eris is also well off of the ecliptic at present (and for a long time coming). I doubt that keeping things in the ecliptic for three flybys then counting on Neptune to provide all of the work to acquire a high inclination is feasible. Maybe a Jupiter-Saturn combo could do it, assuming the rings weren't a problem.

That would actually be a scenario that would unfold fairly often.

Uranus is actually in a pretty good position right now for an assist to Eris, but it'll soon move out of that good position and not come back for 8 decades. Neptune, however, is moving into position, but again, Neptune can't bend the path down in very good proportion to Jupiter's bending it out.

In only 230 years or so, Eris will come within 40 AU of the Sun. Let's plan on an Eris Orbiter/Lander then. Start the buzz now.

[Alan Stern]

You probably already know about The Great Planet Debate meeting coming this week near DC, if not, see:
gpd.jhuapl.edu.

To register for Great Planet Debate conference web participation, click: http://tinyurl.com/6xcqec
Watch the talks and debate on line!

-Alan

[nprev]

Totally agree, Mike; said it before & I'll say it again, natural things exist along a continuum.

(I call this the "Platypus Argument").

[Greg Hullender]

Totally agree, Mike; said it before & I'll say it again, natural things exist along a continuum.

(I call this the "Platypus Argument").

But the logical conclusion of this argument is that there's no such thing as science; everything is unique, and studying patterns is wrong. You SURE you want to ride this train? :-)

--Greg

[Alan Stern]

But the logical conclusion of this argument is that there's no such thing as science; everything is unique, and studying patterns is wrong. You SURE you want to ride this train? :-)

--Greg

No, everything is unified. Planets are a class of bodies bigger than boulders and rubble piles but smaller than stars. ...Unless I miss your point, this is unifying, and a fine train to ride.