Mission To Sedna, space mission to sedna Options

[K-P]

I have tried to search but could not see any serious planning of sending a fly-by mission to Sedna. Does anyone have any info if the scientific community is planning such...?

In my opinion, Sedna would be very interesting target, far more interesting than any KBO etc. The fact that it spends most of the time outside heliopause under the influence of cosmic rays during aphelion could reveal some interesting results and also the reddish colour it has might be worth investigating. And good for us, at the moment it is approaching its closest point to Sun on its orbit, so mission to Sedna would not be such a big effort if done e.g. a'la NH with Jupiter gravity assist...? Maybe possible NH2 could be sent that direction.......?

Any comments, any info? Especially the fact that it is a body from outside the heliopause, could that add some interest towards it?

[stevesliva]

There are some more details (and numbers for Ulysses) here:
http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/library/mee...0/393McNutt.pdf

The mission concept on slide 8 describes a retrograde trajectory to Jupiter, followed by a Sun gravity assist involving an yet-to-be-developed propulsion system. Not to mention that there are a lot of other yet-to-be-developed proposed technologies, like the optical communications and Americurium RTG.

[ugordan]

There are some more details (and numbers for Ulysses) here:
http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/library/mee...0/393McNutt.pdf

A 15.4 km/s burn within 15 minutes. Well, that's optimistic to say the least. Currently, you could have either 15 km/s or a 15 minute short burn, but not both. The only thing I can think of right now is a massive (and we're really talking about a MASSIVE) ion engine powered by god knows what. Massive solar arrays lofted all the way to Jupiter to be able to provide enough juice for the 15 minutes of hellish perihelion passage at 4 solar radii?

We'll be seeing nuclear reactors in space probes sooner than this, IMHO.

[JRehling]

At least solar radiation would not be in short supply at 4 solar radii. I think that, if anywhere, is where the energy would come from.

[ugordan]

True, but one has to think about how hot the semiconductors in the solar panels can get before dying on you. A quick, back of the envelope calculation gives 64 megawatts of solar radiation per square meter at 4 solar radii. That's running a tad hot.