Proposed by the ESA's Cosmic Vision program, the Origins, Dynamics, and Interiors of the Neptunian and Uranian Systems (ODINUS) mission goes even farther: expanding this concept to two twin orbiters, which would send one to Neptune and one to Uranus. The ODINUS mission, proposed by the ESA as a joint venture with NASA, would explore both Neptune and. The atmospheric probe would measure cloud-forming molecules, heat distribution, and how wind speed changed with depth. Uranus and Neptune should have enormous liquid oceans beneath their atmospheres, and an orbiter should be able to discover it for certain. The orbiter would have three separate instruments on it designed to image and measure various properties of Uranus, its rings, and its moons. This mission was ranked third priority, behind the Mars 2020 rover and the Europa Clipper orbiter.В A Uranus probe-and-orbiter could launch during the 2020s with a window of 21 days every year: when Earth, Jupiter, and Uranus reached the optimal positions. One of the major, flagship-class missions proposed to NASA's planetary science decadal survey in 2011 was a Uranus probe and orbiter. in the inner rings of Uranus from the Voyager 2 fly-by, but an orbiter could show us even more. The final two (outermost) rings of Uranus, as discovered by Hubble. And, with its data, we solved old problems and discovered new mysteries about its moons Iapetus, Titan, and Enceladus, among others. Saturn's rings were found to have intense vertical structures and to change over time they're dynamic and not static, and provide a laboratory to teach us about planet-and-moon formation. A colossal storm developed on Saturn, encircling the planet and lasting for many months.

Saturn exhibited seasonal changes, which corresponded to chemical and color changes around its poles. What's most incredible is that we observed changes and transient events that we never would have predicted. It didn't just image and learn about the rings, although it did that too. NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science InstituteД¬assini didn't just learn about the physical and atmospheric properties of Saturn, although it did that spectacularly. The difference in color is due to changes in the chemical composition of Saturn's atmosphere, as induced by direct photochemical changes.

All of that and more already happened around Saturn with the recently-completed Cassini mission.ДЄ 2012 (L) and a 2016 (R) image of SaturnвЂ™s north pole, both taken with the Cassini wide-angle. You can even send down a lander or probe to the planet or one of its moons. You can find new moons, new rings, and new phenomena that you never expected. You can see changes in the atmosphere of a world, and examineВ it continuously in a wide variety of wavelengths invisible to the human eye. Instead of a single pass, an orbiter can get you whole-world coverage, multiple times, over long periods of time. Inserting it into orbit around a world is harder, but it's also far more rewarding. But fly-by missions are easy, because you don't have to slow the spacecraft down.

NASA / JHUAPLДЄ decade ago, the Argo mission was proposed: it would fly-by Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Kuiper belt objects, with a launch window lasting from 2015 to 2019. The story is similar if you want to go to the outer Solar System, except you use gravity to add to your heliocentric speed, rather than to subtract from it. Mercury after a number of gravity assists. NASA's flight path for the Messenger probe, which wound up in a successful, stable orbit around.

Neptune class star trek