NASA is considering options for a mission to the last unexplored planets of the solar system, the ice giants Uranus and Neptune.
A group of scientists from NASA and a number of American universities presented the rationale and general description of the missions that should go to the last two planets of the solar system that have not yet been surveyed at close range - Uranus and Neptune. In a report presented the other day, the authors outlined the concepts of four variants of spacecraft that can be launched within the next decade, including orbital and atmospheric probes.
Their main task should be to study the composition and structure of the ice giants. Judging by the fact that Neptune emits an order of magnitude more energy than Uranus, the planets are somewhat significantly different, despite the similarity in composition and general plan. Perhaps this is the internal structure, and this is extremely interesting for scientists to understand, according to New Scientist and The Verge.
So far, the only device that has examined these planets is Voyager 2, which flew past them (25 thousand km from Uranus and 5 thousand km from Neptune), going into even more distant space. Already these long-term and short-term observations have brought a lot of interesting discoveries - among them one can recall the rings and new satellites of Uranus, as well as evidence of the presence of an ever-boiling subsurface ocean of water, the ring of Neptune …
Back in 2015, a group of specialists was asked to work out the concept of missions to the ice giants of the solar system. Experts considered 20 different options and selected four of the most interesting and promising: three probes for studying Uranus and one for Neptune (Uranus is given more attention simply because it is much closer and it is much easier and cheaper to fly to it than to Neptune. the cost of all four is estimated at about the same level: about $ 2 billion.
NASA
Three variants of missions to Uranus imply the delivery of an orbiter to the planet in a light or more advanced, heavy version with or without a descent atmospheric probe. The total duration of the flight for all four is from 10 to 15 years, for fieldwork - from a simple series of overflights to three years. During this time, the orbital modules can study the composition and structure, the gravitational field and the magnetosphere, satellites and rings, and the descent of the module into the atmosphere will make it possible to “measure” it in depth.
NASA cannot afford to implement at least two such projects at once, so only one of the four proposals will apparently be chosen. According to the authors' calculations, the nearest optimal launch windows are in 2029–2034, so it is worth deciding on the best option and starting work in the coming years. It's worth it early: remember about 10-15 years of flight - even in the best version, such a mission is unlikely to arrive before the mid-2040s.
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Sergey Vasiliev
