[X] My Assistant

[elakdawalla]

The Planetary Society has issued a call to action, for people to contact House Science Committee Chairman Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) to demand that NASA not cut their 2006 spending on science priorities like Europa before their 2007 budget has even taken effect; and to demand that they reconsider their priorities in the 2007 budget. Go to our Space Advocacy page for more on how to participate in this campaign. Please participate!

--Emily

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

It would be more accurate to say that missions designed to study the satellites of the outer planets seem to require Flagship-class missions. Missions to study the giant planets themselves can consist simply either of Juno-type orbiters or of flybys that drop off entry probes and relay their data back to Earth -- and in either case, a New Frontiers-type mission is feasible. But Jupiter and Saturn orbiters that fly by their satellites and examine them may break the NF cost cap -- that isn't certain -- and certainly missions that orbit or land on the satellites seem to (although it's just barely possible that we might be able to design a Titan orbiter or stationary lander within the NF cap, given our unique ability to use Titan's atmosphere for aerobraking and thus cut down drastically on the mass of propellant needed by the craft).

There seems to be a consensus developing recently that the next mission to study a giant planet itself after Juno should consist of a craft to fly by Saturn without stopping and drop off one to three Galileo-type vented entry probes, as well as doing Juno-type microwave spectrometry of the planet (an instrument which Cassini lacks), to study its atmospheric composition and structure. This craft could almost certainly be NF-class -- it could even use solar power at that distance for that particular kind of mission. Similar missions could be flown for Uranus and Neptune, which could also somewhat extend Voyager 2's imaging and spectrometry of the Uranus and Neptune systems -- and all such missions could provide adequate "context" for the entry probes. But if you want to study those two planets' moons and rings in any detail, or observe long-term changes in their weather and magnetospheres, you will also need a Flagship-class orbiter.

[gpurcell]

There seems to be a consensus developing recently that the next mission to study a giant planet itself after Juno should consist of a craft to fly by Saturn without stopping and drop off one to three Galileo-type vented entry probes, as well as doing Juno-type microwave spectrometry of the planet (an instrument which Cassini lacks), to study its atmospheric composition and structure. This craft could almost certainly be NF-class -- it could even use solar power at that distance for that particular kind of mission. Similar missions could be flown for Uranus and Neptune, which could also somewhat extend Voyager 2's imaging and spectrometry of the Uranus and Neptune systems -- and all such missions could provide adequate "context" for the entry probes.

What about a Saturn/Uranus or Neptune flyby (with perhaps one probe for the second target)? Seems to me if you're flinging an expensive piece of kit out there you ought to try for at least two planetary encounters.