Dear Friends of science and Astronomy,
US group proposes Neptune mission
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4515752.stm

Neptune and its largest moon, Triton, could be the targets of a major space
mission in the decades ahead, if a group of US researchers gets its way.

The team has put together a concept for a "mothership" and probes that would
investigate the ice giant which orbits some 4.5bn km from the Sun. So far, only
one spacecraft, Voyager 2, has visited Neptune - a flyby in 1989. A mission like
the one being proposed could cost $3-4bn dollars and would probably need
international partners.

"It would also take up the careers of the mission team," said Bernie Bienstock,
a robotic systems project manger with aerospace company Boeing. "It's probably
like an 18-year mission but then there's all the lead time - another 10 years to
do all the selling to Congress and Nasa, and do all the detailed engineering
design. "You're looking at about 30 years from beginning to end."

Captured moon

Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun, beyond Uranus but nearer than Pluto.
Voyager showed us a blue giant with an extremely dynamic atmosphere; its winds
race around the planet at speeds of 300m/sec. Voyager also saw rings - much more
tenuous than Saturn's - and pictured its "great dark spot", a storm system akin
to those familiar in our images of Jupiter. But it is Neptune's largest moon,
Triton, which may be the big pull for science.

It has a surface of fascinating contrasts and geysers of nitrogen. It is
probably not a natural satellite but a captured object which came in from the
furthest reaches of the Solar System. "The moon is geologically active - we've
seen that from Voyager 2's pictures of geysers," said David Atkinson, a
University of Idaho professor. "It's just so different to all the other moons of
Neptune, and the moons of Uranus and Jupiter, and it would make an excellent
comparison with Kuiper Belt objects such as Pluto and its moon, Charon. "It
would provide us with a wealth of information about the origin and evolution of
the outer Solar System."

Risky landing

Bienstock and Atkinson presented their team's concept of a Neptune mission here
at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. They propose it become one of
the US space agency's big flagship missions, of the type Nasa can fly only once
a decade because of the scale and cost involved. The concept envisions a
25-tonne spacecraft that would be powered by a nuclear fission reactor and ion
propulsion system. Only this configuration would give the mission the power and
flexibility to reach across the Solar System and complete its science goals.

These would include sending two probes on a collision course with the planet, to
take readings in the atmosphere before being crushed by its pressure. The
mothership would then attempt to put a lander on the surface of 2,700km-wide
Triton. Getting down safely would be a colossal engineering challenge, Bienstock
concedes. "The probe would have a mass of about 500kg - 65% of that is a
propulsion system to slow you down so you don't crash," he explained.

"There is a very thin atmosphere on Triton but there's not enough for parachutes
to slow you down. You've got a lot of engineering overhead just to deliver the
science package." Once down, the lander could sample the chemical properties of
surface materials and send back images of the alien landscape. The whole concept
has been put together under a Nasa Vision Mission contract. This does not
automatically mean, however, that such a mission will get to fly. Its purpose is
to investigate possibilities, to help the agency understand the requirements of
complex projects as it maps out future plans.

Dr.BHUDIA-Science Group Of INDIA.
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/venustransit_2004/
President:"Kutch Science Foundation".
Founder :"Kutch Amateurs Astronomers Club - Bhuj - Kutch".
Life Member:"kutch Itihaas Parishad".
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