![]() ![]() ![]() That timing would also give the probe all-new views of the southern hemispheres of Uranus' moons, intriguing worlds in their own rights. Voyager 2's 1986 image of Miranda, a moon of Uranus named for the daughter of Prospero in Shakespeare's "The Tempest." (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) A year on Uranus lasts 84 Earth years and Voyager 2 flew past during the southern hemisphere's summer, so if scientists want the most contrast with that mission's views then the new spacecraft needs to arrive before southern spring begins in 2049. However, there's a good scientific reason to get to Uranus by 2045. It could leave Earth as late as 2038, but that would mean a 15-year journey. The giant planet's position means a Uranus mission would preferably launch in 2031 or 2032 to arrive at Uranus in 2044 or 2045. ![]() A gravity-assist from Jupiter is required for a larger spacecraft to avoid an unduly long journey. How long it will take to reach Uranus depends on when a spacecraft launches. "If it's worth doing, then it's worth doing properly!" Getting there in time "To fully explore Uranus we need to be in orbit, exploring the interior, atmosphere and magnetosphere, and touring the myriad icy moons and rings," he added. "A New-Frontiers level mission could only just scratch the surface, unable to explore the full ice giant system in all its rich diversity," Fletcher said. (NASA calls missions of this budget "New Frontiers" missions examples include the Juno mission to Jupiter and the OSIRIS-REx mission to fetch an asteroid sample.) Some scientists thought that a more affordable concept costing under $900 million would be the only way to get a Uranus mission off the ground. The Uranus Orbiter and Probe mission will cost in the region of $4.2 billion, according to initial evaluations. Voyager 2 took this image on Januas it left Uranus headed for Neptune. That crossover with exoplanet science may have helped Uranus' cause. "A flagship mission to the Uranian system will provide an incredible opportunity to explore how ice giant systems, which are common in the galaxy, formed and evolved," she told. Lead author of the latter ice giants report is Chloe Beddingfield, a planetary scientist and astronomer at NASA'sAmes Research Center in California, who thinks that there's compelling broad planetary and even exoplanet science to be done at Uranus. So it's perhaps no surprise that Uranus is now at the top of the agenda. The pre-Decadal Survey Ice Giants study report included a variety of options for Uranus and Neptune spacecraft, while a white paper called Exploration of the Ice Giant Systems also submitted to the decadal survey committee discusses the need for an orbiter/probe combo in a flagship-class mission. Other reports have also stressed the need for a fully-equipped Uranus orbiter, complete with an atmospheric probe to dive beneath the planet's clouds. The previous decadal survey, released in 2011, mentioned the idea as the third priority for a flagship mission, following ideas that matured into the Perseverance rover now at work on Mars and the Europa Clipper mission due to launch in 2024. For now, the Uranus Orbiter and Probe isn't a specific mission, but a concept. ![]()
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