Despite the fact that this planet was discovered back in 1781, it has not had visitors since 1986, that is, since the moment when the Voyager 2 space probe made the only flight around Uranus in history. Since then, no one has ever visited it, and this is very saddening for modern scientists, because Uranus is an amazing place.
In addition to the fact that this planet is one of the coldest in the solar system (the surface temperature drops to -224 degrees Celsius), it also attracts attention with its set of two dark rings, as well as the presence of 27 satellites named after Shakespeare's heroes. For such a large planet - the equatorial radius is 25,559 kilometers - Uranus undeservedly remains out of sight and attention. But scientists do not leave hopes that someday we will visit it and study it in detail.
At the 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference held in the United States last week, a group of researchers made a presentation in which they spoke about the concept of the mission of the uranium orbital spacecraft "OCEANUS". The head of the team, Ali M. Branson of the University of Arizona, suggested that NASA send a spacecraft to Uranus in 2030, which will reach the planet in 2041, after conducting two gravity assist maneuvers with the help of Venus and another with the help of Earth. The orbiter will be able to study the solid core of Uranus, as well as its unusual uneven magnetosphere. Apart from Uranus, this feature was observed by scientists only in Neptune.
“The need to study ice giants is obvious - they are the least explored class of planets for us. The composition and structure of these planets differs significantly from the gas giants (the same Jupiter or Saturn). Our current models of the internal structure of ice giants contradict the models of the formation of the solar system, especially in matters of the expected size of the nuclei of such planets. And the uniqueness of the nature of the magnetic fields of such planets is generally poorly understood,”the research team says.
In short, we know practically nothing about the ice giants. We only know that these planets can be mainly composed of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and sulfur. And this despite the fact that we have two own ice planets - Uranus and Neptune.
According to Amara Graps, a senior researcher at the Institute of Planetary Sciences, a space mission to Uranus could not only answer many questions about the ice giants, it would also speed up the rather slow process of filling the information profile of Uranus itself.
“In my opinion, the simplest answer to the question of why Uranus is so ignored [in the media] is that there have not been any space missions associated with this planet since the time it was flown by the Voyager 2 space probe. - says Graps.
“At the time of the probe's encounter with the planet - January 24, 1986 - I was working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. However, even at that time, this meeting did not provoke deserved interest in poor Uranus."
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And all because, just four days after that, the American space shuttle Challenger crashed. The device fell apart 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven crew members on board. The tragedy attracted increased public attention, eclipsing even some of the achievements of the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
“All of us scientists were also shocked by this tragedy. That day, we first began to rejoice at the arrival of the latest data from Voyager, when suddenly, while watching the launch of the Challenger, we were shocked by what was happening. Of course, all the attention of the press was riveted on this catastrophe, and people actually did not know about the news about Uranus."
Now the focus is on Mars. The issue of sending a manned mission to the Red Planet in the coming decades is being considered. Even Elon Musk hopes to build a colony there. But if we, even in the very distant future, cannot live on worlds like Uranus, this does not mean at all that we should not try to get to know this large and unusual ice planet better.
NIKOLAY KHIZHNYAK