![]() Uranus beat Neptune because of a celestial fluke “The science case has only improved with time, particularly as Ice-Giant-sized worlds (or just smaller) appear commonplace in the pantheon of exoplanets.”īesides, the main reason NASA is being sent to Uranus is because Neptune is trickier. “I started thinking about Ice Giant exploration in 2008, ahead of the last decadal survey that ranked Uranus as a third priority after Mars and Europa,” said Fletcher. Since we’ve not fully explored either of the “ice giant” planets in our own star system, scientists have no baseline to make comparisons. The reason why “ice giant” planets have moved up the agenda is because most of the 5,000+ exoplanets found by astronomers in other star systems are about the same size of Uranus and Neptune. It’s actually more about exoplanets than Uranus (Photo by Space Frontiers/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Getty Images 4. “To fully explore this representative of a whole class of worlds-Ice-Giant-sized planets-we need to be in orbit, exploring the interior, atmosphere and magnetosphere, and touring the myriad icy moons and rings-and that deserves a flagship.”Īll nine of the known rings of the planet Uranus, as seen by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, 21st January. ![]() “A New-Frontiers level flyby mission would not have been compelling,” said Fletcher. ![]() In fact, most of the proposals considered by the committees had been for more affordable New Frontiers flyby missions costing no more than $900 million. It’s a full flagship like Cassini, not a flybyĪlthough the same Uranus Orbiter and Probe was the third-highest priority of the survey a decade ago-and simply ignored by a cash-poor NASA-the recommendation of a $4.2 billion flagship mission is significantly more than many proposers of missions to Uranus had hoped for. “Outer planet exploration touches on key scientific questions about the origins of worlds and the nature of our Solar System, so I would hope that this complements the ongoing exploration of Mars.” MORE FROM FORBES We're Going To Uranus! NASA Will Spend $4.2 Billion And $4.9 Billion On New Flagship Missions To The 'Ice Giant' And Saturn's 'Wet Moon' Enceladus By Jamie Carter 3. “As with all missions, cost overruns and surprises can pose a risk,” said “ice giants” expert Professor Leigh Fletcher of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester, and a member of the Giant Planets panel for this survey. The report doesn't mention this, but it would then likely need to be launched on a super-heavy lift rocket such as NASA’s Space Launch System or SpaceX’s Starship. ![]() In that case there would be no Jupiter to help out, which would mean, ironically, a bigger rocket and a slower 15-year direct journey (arriving in 2053!). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |