QUEST: A New Frontiers Uranus orbiter mission concept study
| Autor: | M. Piquette, Nicholas Tallarida, M. Telus, Stephanie Jarmak, Weiyi Ng, David Murakami, K. Rink, Baptiste Journaux, L. R. Schurmeier, Charles Budney, Chuanfei Dong, A. Akins, N. Stein, Karl L. Mitchell, A. Curtis, S. Cofield, A. Pradeepkumar Girija, E. T. Dunham, Daniel R. Cremons, L. Lowes, Erin Leonard, Emma Dahl |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
020301 aerospace & aeronautics
Engineering business.industry Gas giant Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Uranus Aerospace Engineering 02 engineering and technology 01 natural sciences Astrobiology law.invention Orbiter Planetary science 0203 mechanical engineering Neptune Planet law Physics::Space Physics 0103 physical sciences Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics business 010303 astronomy & astrophysics Planetary Science Decadal Survey Ice giant |
| Zdroj: | Acta Astronautica. 170:6-26 |
| ISSN: | 0094-5765 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.01.030 |
| Popis: | The ice giant planets, Uranus and Neptune, are fundamentally different from the gas giant and terrestrial planets. Though ice giants represent the most common size of exoplanet and possess characteristics that challenge our understanding of the way our solar system formed and evolved, they remain the only class of planetary object without a dedicated spacecraft mission. The inclusion of a Uranus orbiter as the third highest priority Flagship mission in the NASA Planetary Science Decadal Survey “Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013–2022” indicates a high level of support for exploration of the ice giants by the planetary science community. However, given the substantial costs associated with a flagship mission, it is critical to explore lower cost options if we intend to visit Uranus within an ideal launch window of 2029–2034 when a Jupiter gravity assist becomes available. In this paper, we describe the Quest to Uranus to Explore Solar System Theories (QUEST), a New Frontiers class Uranus orbiter mission concept study performed at the 30th Annual NASA/JPL Planetary Science Summer Seminar. The proposed QUEST platform is a spin-stabilized spacecraft designed to undergo highly elliptical, polar orbits around Uranus during a notional one-year primary science mission. The proposed major science goals of the mission are (1) to use Uranus as a natural laboratory to better understand the dynamos that drive magnetospheres in the solar system and beyond and (2) to identify the energy transport mechanisms in Uranus' magnetic, atmospheric, and interior environments in contrast with the other giant planets. With substantial mass, power, and cost margins, this mission concept demonstrates a compelling, feasible option for a New Frontiers Uranus orbiter mission. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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