Ice giant system exploration in the 2020s: an introduction
Autor: | Athena Coustenis, Chris S. Arridge, Adam Masters, Amy Simon, Kathleen Mandt, Ian J. Cohen, Mark Hofstadter, Leigh N. Fletcher |
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Přispěvatelé: | The Royal Society |
Rok vydání: | 2020 |
Předmět: |
Solar System
Engineering 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences General Science & Technology General Mathematics FOS: Physical sciences General Physics and Astronomy 01 natural sciences Astrobiology Mission design Neptune Planet 0103 physical sciences Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) 010303 astronomy & astrophysics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) Introduction business.industry General Engineering Uranus International partnership Planetary science 13. Climate action Physics::Space Physics Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics business Ice giant Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics |
Zdroj: | Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |
ISSN: | 1471-2962 |
Popis: | The international planetary science community met in London in January 2020, united in the goal of realising the first dedicated robotic mission to the distant Ice Giants, Uranus and Neptune, as the only major class of Solar System planet yet to be comprehensively explored. Ice-Giant-sized worlds appear to be a common outcome of the planet formation process, and pose unique and extreme tests of our understanding of planetary origins, exotic water-rich planetary interiors, dynamic seasonal atmospheres, complex magnetospheric configurations, geologically-rich icy satellites (both natural and captured), and delicate planetary rings. This article introduces a special issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A on Ice Giant System exploration at the start of the 2020s. We review the scientific potential and existing mission design concepts for an ambitious international partnership for exploring Uranus and/or Neptune in the coming decades. Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures. Introductory article (accepted) for "Ice Giant Systems" special issue of Phil. Trans. A, based on Royal Society Discussion Meeting, Jan 2020 |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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