Onwards to Uranus and Neptune! Options

[punkboi]

Any new development on the Argo mission proposal? Just wondering.

[ZLD]

Hadn't seen any mention of this proposal yet.

Uranus Pathfinder

Here is a short write-up about the proposal as well: Link

[tedstryk]

I hope it never flies under that name, because I can't read it and keep a straight face. It reminds me of my days as a planetarium intern, where I would have real trouble during live shows explaining to people how to "find Uranus" without cracking up.

[ZLD]

Better than the National Geographic headline: Europe Asks If It Can Probe Uranus

But yeah, I entirely agree the name of the proposal probably shouldn't stick but likely wasn't unintentional.

[elakdawalla]

I've learned to embrace Uranus jokes (there, I did it again). About 75% of space-related conversations between me and my husband (of which there aren't very many, admittedly) involve Uranus jokes. Don't view it as a handicap, view it as a way to warm up the audience!

[tedstryk]

My problem was that I was running slides on timed sequences from a reel to reel tape (we had a more modern-for-the-time system, but it died and forced us back to the old one), so by the time I finished laughing the slides were visualizations of the Kuiper Belt. And yes, my wife and I make plenty of jokes...the last name Stryk (pronounced "Strike" for those who don't know) doesn't help.

[tasp]

Thanks for that, ZLD.

Couple of good Hubble shots I don't recall seeing before too.

Article didn't say if the craft was a flyby or orbiter, but at my age, this is probably my last chance for a Uranus mission.

If the craft is an orbiter, I hope they can utilize the Longuski/Heaton plan to visit the satellites. There is a thread here somewhere on that . . .

[tasp]

LOL.

It was the obscurely titled 'Uranus Orbiter' thread.

I bumped it to the top of the pile.

The Longuski/Heaton trajectory is modeled after the Galileo Jupiter orbital tour. Turns out Uranus system is scaled appropriately from Jupiter system to make an analogous tour possible.

Amazing idea they had. Also, they note that at mission end, a (IIRC) 1000 km/hour decel would park the craft in orbit around Ariel.


This is sounding pretty sophisticated for a $400 million mission . . . .

[ZLD]

Just curious (I don't have access to AIAA during break), how does the orbital insertion work for Uranus in such a trajectory? I hadn't even really thought about how that would work with Uranus being basically on its side.

[Hungry4info]

Same as at any other planet, as long as you arrive during Uranus' equinox, the initial orbit around the planet won't be too inclined relative to its moon system.

[vjkane]

This will be an interesting mission competition. In addition to Uranus Pathfinder (something to look forward to after age 50 ) there is also the Titan Aerial Platform concept. If the latter can figure out a decent data relay (the Journey to Titan and Enceladus proposal?), then my money is on that mission.

I'm sure there are more planetary proposals that were submitted along with many astronomy and astrophysics proposals.

As I understand it, the proposals are competing for 2-3 slots for Phase A funding from which the final mission will be selected. Flight time early 2020s.

[Paolo]

Uranus Pathfinder has not been selected for the initial Assessment Phase
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/in...fobjectid=48467
the good new is that Marco Polo-R is one of the four finalist mission (and EChO looks great as well!)

[briv1016]

Since no one has mentioned this yet, I guess I will. The NRC Planetary Decadal Survey for 2013-2022 mentions a Uranus Orbiter and Probe. A link to the report is available through Emily's Blog.

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002945/


More info including Steve Squyres' Presentation, slides and a copy of the original mission concept study are available at the PDS site.

http://sites.nationalacademies.org/SSB/Cur...ects/ssb_052412



Keep in mind that this is a report from National Academy of Science, not NASA. And that NASA's budget is highly volatile.

[mchan]

Decadal Survey thread

vjkane has excellent blog on future missions, see Future Planetary Exploration thread

[Paolo]

I didn't know it until yesterday, but the ESA medium class mission proposal included a Neptune and Kuiper Belt flyby and General Relativity mission.
see this prez http://moriond.in2p3.fr/J11/transparents/christophe.ppt