DREAMING OF 2040: #Bestof2022: 1/2: #Uranus: Voyage to the unknowns of the gas giant. Ken Croswell, PNAS.

PHOTO: 945 GREEWICH ROYAL OBSERVATORY. 1NO KNOWN RESTRICTIONS ON PUBLICATION.
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DREAMING OF 2040: #Bestof2022:  1/2: #Uranus: Voyage to the unknowns of the gas giant. Ken Croswell, PNAS.

The recent decadal survey from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends that NASA’s next new large planetary mission take aim at Uranus (1). Unlike Voyager 2, which flew past the planet in 1986 (2), this new spacecraft would settle into orbit around Uranus and observe it for many years. At least one such orbiter has studied the five planets closest to Earth, from Mercury to Saturn. Uranus is twice as far as Saturn, yet a billion miles closer than Neptune, making Uranus the easier target. If NASA launches the mission in the early 2030s, it can reach the planet in the mid-2040s1