A consortium of planetary scientists has reached a consensus that it’s time to dispatch an interplanetary spacecraft to investigate the colossal gas giant planet Uranus. They argue that a voyage around 2032 “is feasible with the current propulsion technology.”
This also means that, inadvertently, the scientific community is exerting pressure, compelling NASA to construct and launch what they’ve dubbed the Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP). Going beyond just orbiting it, the probe could detach a small part of itself to descend straight into the frigid depths of Uranus.
The Grand Mission: Unraveling the Structure of the ‘Icy Giant’ Uranus
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If this mission proceeds, UOP’s journey to Uranus might offer the most in-depth insights ever collected about this massive ice behemoth. Up until now, only one spacecraft has ventured to Uranus – NASA’s Voyager 2 – and it undertook a flyby in 1986, coming within about 50,700 miles (81,593 km) of the planet’s cloud tops.
However, that was a relatively swift flyby, and by that time, Voyager 2’s outdated technologies no longer persisted to unveil the mysteries around Uranus, including a few new moons and a fully developed ring orbiting this ice giant. But now, deploying an orbiter and probe close to Uranus could bring about even more surprises.
Hence, we can hope that in about a decade, the enigmas about Uranus’ precise makeup will be unveiled. Scientists also harbor suspicions that this planet is primarily composed of hydrogen, helium, rock, and ice, offering cues to explore much about the nature of the solar system. Presently, our understanding of the inner structure of this planet remains quite limited.
Professor Jonathan Fortney from UC Santa Cruz states, “There has been a long-standing assumption about the composition of this planet, but we don’t really know. But sending a probe to penetrate Uranus will do more than just uncover what’s happening there. It could also shed light on the intriguing aspects of the vast cosmos.” The Next Big Goal of Space Science The planets beyond our solar system are dominated by “ice giants” like Neptune and Uranus – believed to be structures with larger rock cores – as opposed to heavier elements like hydrogen and helium commonly found in larger gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn. In fact, Neptune and Uranus are two planets within the Solar System that have not been visited by a spacecraft from Earth, though “they are among the most popular planets out there.”
With a first visit in 1986 and a failed survey attempt in 2011, a third mission to Uranus takes top priority among many space missions. Alongside an expedition to Mars to search for signs of life on the Red Planet, or an investigation into Europa – suspected to host shallow and deeper waters that could harbor life – if all goes smoothly, the UOP mission to Uranus (though currently proposed and not yet approved) holds hope for delving into the profound depths of the ice giant in the near future, and it could be an enduring adventure.