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Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Uranus and Neptune _ Proposed Chinese Neptune Orbiter

Posted by: dtolman Jun 30 2022, 01:27 PM

https://www.planetary.org/articles/china-nuclear-neptune-orbiter Basic details of the proposal:
-Launch in 2030 on Long March 5
-Arrival in 2040, after assist by Jupiter
-Polar orbit around Neptune
-3000 kg main spacecraft
-Powered by 10 kWe Nuclear Fission Reactor
-4 microsatellites with targets of Neptune (atmosphere), Triton, and possibly targets en-route (centaur or asteroid)
-Science objectives include global remote sensing and studying Neptune’s internal structure, atmospheric composition and motion characteristics, the magnetic field, the solar wind, and the planet’s moons and ring system.

Posted by: stevesliva Jun 30 2022, 01:37 PM

- Electric propulsion (to answer part of: what are they going to do with all those watts?)

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