New OPAG report Options

[Phil Stooke]

Our Special Correspondent writes:

"Latest OPAG update in...

Some mildly interesting stuff in it:"

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/opag/1_07_update.pdf

... and I put it here because there's more about Saturn in it than about other outer planets.

Phil

[Guest_Analyst_*]

Cassini has more than three years to go, probably more. Many new things will be learned and have to be understood. I do not think we are intellectually ready for a Saturn/Titan mission now or in the next couple of years. Europa/Jupiter should come first. Galileo, Cassini and New Horizons data are or will soon be analyzed. I doubt a Titan flagship with aerobreaking + ballon + lander + orbiter can be done for $3 billion. Jupiter is the next logical choice imho.

Analyst

PS: Juno is now $1 billion in FY 2006 dollars. I guess this includes international partners, buy anyway, you can see how much a "simple, not very sexy and non RTG" Jupiter mission can cost.