Uranus should be the new priority of NASA’s robotic space exploration program for the next decade. Seventh planet from the Sun, it was visited only once, by Voyager-2, in 1986.
It is not yet an official definition, but it is one of the main recommendations of the decennial planetary science report presented last Tuesday (19) by the US National Academies of Science. It is customary for NASA to follow the suggestions closely.
Covering planning for the period 2023-2032, the document suggests that the space agency begin work on a Uranian orbiter, traveling with an atmospheric probe, as soon as possible. Uranus and Neptune, the eighth planet, are very similar to each other, and very different from the other worlds in the Solar System. They are gas giants, like Jupiter and Saturn, but smaller and with a higher percentage of ice in their composition. Furthermore, they are similar in size to many exoplanets already discovered.
According to the report, Uranus and Neptune attract more or less the same interests, and then the former wins the competition on orbital issues: it is closer. Ideally, scientists would like to see planning for this flagship mission begin in 2024, with liftoff scheduled for 2031 or 2032. At those times, it would be possible to use a midway pass by Jupiter as a gravitational slingshot to get to Uranus faster. If later windows are chosen, the slingshots will have to be given by the innermost planets, which would increase the travel time.
If there is room for a second flagship mission to open in the period, the report suggests an orbiter and lander for Enceladus, Saturn’s tiny moon with a subsurface ocean and geysers that allow easier access to its contents. The main objective would be to investigate the habitability of the ocean and know if there is life there.
Among the projects already underway, the top priority for the decade is the Mars sample return mission. Conducted in partnership by Nasa and ESA (European Space Agency), it should consist of several launches, making it possible to travel to Earth from samples currently collected by the Perseverance rover on the red planet. For the future of the Mars research program, the scientists recommend a mission dubbed the Mars Life Explorer. In contrast to Perseverance, which looks for signs of life in Mars’ past, the future mission would try to detect any signs of life even today on that world.
To top it off, the document highlights the importance of readjusting the ceilings for cheaper missions (each Discovery class project could cost up to US$800 million, and the New Frontiers class, US$1.65 billion), in addition to creating greater synergy between the Artemis program, manned return to the Moon, and planetary science objectives on lunar soil.
This column is published on Mondays, in Folha Corrida.
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