Posted on 04/01/2019 4:20:11 PM PDT by BenLurkin
It's a large moon, the seventh largest in our solar system, and scientists think it was born in the Kuiper Belt before falling into its current location in orbit around the most distant planet.
...Procktor and her colleagues believe they can photograph the moon's entire surface in a single pass.
...On its way past Triton, the spacecraft's flight would be timed in order to see in sunlight the 60 percent or so of its surface that Voyager 2 couldn't see. After the initial approach, the spacecraft would turn its camera back to recapture the 40 percent of the surface Voyager already imaged, this time in the faint light reflected off the planet, called Neptune-shine.
Triton... orbits the wrong way and at an unusually steep angle.
If Trident becomes a real mission, it also won't be doing New Horizons again in terms of cost. That mission cost NASA about $720 million...
Not so for another mission concept being explored for Triton, which would build a spacecraft that launches in 2029 and touches down on the icy moon in the early 2040s. Then, it would hop across Triton's surface, sampling both its ice and atmosphere.
Coincidentally, the hopper design is currently just heavy enough to fit on board the current Trident design, Hartwig said. The pairing would pose as many challenges as it addresses, and adding the hopper would certainly push the price tag dramatically higher.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Somebody just tell me...
What advantage is there from a rocket launching with an extra 50 mph velocity (with full fuel losd)
Significant?
The pairing would pose as many challenges as it addresses, and adding the hopper would certainly push the price tag dramatically higher.
Ok, make 10 of them, buy in bulk.
Maybe build a hundred general purpose models
and just send them out, specialized ones can follow.
in orbit around the most distant planet.
LOL
50 to 100 mph.
People think Muslims are uneducated and backward, so, as a great mission to prove these racists wrong, I propose a mission of 100 Muslim scientists and explorers to make this trip.
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