Objective Uranus: NASA placed it as a top priority to explore in the coming years

An orbital robotic mission to Uranus is listed as the priority mission that a panel of experts entrusts to NASA in a planetary science plan for the United States between 2023 and 2032.

According to the US space agency, the Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) mission would carry out a multi-year orbital tour to transform knowledge of ice giants in general, and of the Uranus system in particular, through overflights and the delivery of an atmospheric probe.

The report states that UOP would be programmatically complementary to ongoing flagship missions, and that a launch within the decade 2023-2032 is feasible in currently available launch vehicles. The report calls for a spacecraft to orbit Uranus and map its gravitational and magnetic fields. The orbiter would circle Uranus for several years and send an atmospheric probe into its skies laden with hydrogen sulfide.

The 780-sheet report presented by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine identifies priorities and opportunities and makes recommendations for funding to maximize the advancement of planetary science, astrobiology and planetary defense over the next 10 years.

“This recommended portfolio of missions, high-priority research and technological development will produce transformative advances in human knowledge and understanding of the origin and evolution of the solar system, and of the life and habitability of other bodies beyond Earth,” said Robin Canup, deputy vice president of the Directorate of Planetary Sciences of the Southwest Research Institute and co-chair of the survey's steering committee, in a statement from the National Academies.

The report is organized around 12 priority scientific themes, including questions about exoplanets and the structure of distant worlds, how our solar system began and evolved, and why life came to exist on Earth (and how that can help us understand its potential existence in other places). The decadal survey recommends carrying out several missions within different NASA programs. He says that the highest priority flagship mission of the next decade should be a probe on Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun.

The question of Uranus was presented by a team led by Mark Hofstadter, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a white paper. The team concludes that the main objectives should be to investigate the composition and structure of Uranus, the nature of its magnetic field, how its internal heat moves to the surface, and the details of its atmosphere, moons and ring system. But certain details about the ice giant can only be discerned from 3 billion kilometers away, hence the need for further close observations.

Second mission with priority

According to this panel of experts, the Enceladus Orbilander should be NASA's second major mission of highest priority. The Orbilander would look for evidence of life on Saturn Enceladus's moon from orbit and during a two-year ground mission that would conduct detailed studies of material from geysers originating in the inner ocean of Enceladus.

The report also underlines the importance of planetary defense, with recommendations focusing on improving near-Earth (NEO) object detection, tracking and characterization capabilities; improving NEO modeling, prediction and information integration; and developing technologies for diversion missions and disruption of NEO.

It is also cited that NASA should fully support the development, timely launch and subsequent operation of the NEO Surveyor, a dedicated, space-based mid-infrared study, to achieve the goals of the highest priority NEO Planetary Defense Study. After NEO Surveyor and DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), the highest priority planetary defense demonstration mission should be a rapid response flyby reconnaissance mission aimed at an Earth-threatening NEO 50 to 100 meters in diameter, which is representative of the population of objects they pose the highest probability of a destructive impact on Earth.

Such a mission should assess the capabilities and limitations of overflight characterization methods to better prepare for a short warning time NEO threat. The report recommends that NASA include in its plans an orbiter and lander on a centaur, a return mission of samples from Ceres, another to return sample from the surface of the comet, and others on multiple Enceladus flyby, Lunar Geophysical Network, Saturn's probe, Titan orbiter and Venus in-situ explorer.

Mars and the Moon

Mars and the Moon provide — according to this report — the opportunity to investigate a wide range of priority scientific questions in relatively easy-to-reach destinations, and this justifies the Mars Exploration Program (MEP) and the Lunar Discovery Exploration Program (LDEP) as dedicated programs, the report said. It recommends that NASA develop strategies for scientific exploration in other areas of great scientific importance, such as Venus and the Ocean Worlds, which have an increasing number of US missions and opportunities for international collaboration.

NASA should maintain the MEP and prioritize the Mars Life Explorer (MLE) as the next middle-class MEP mission. While the Mars Sample Return (MSR) looks for ancient biological signatures, the MLE would look for existing life and assess modern habitability.

The previous decennial survey recommended a sample caching rover from Mars as NASA's top priority flagship mission, which is being implemented as the MSR program. The new survey reaffirms the broad and fundamental scientific importance of MSR, and says that the top scientific priority of NASA's robotic exploration efforts this decade should be the completion of MSR as soon as possible with no change in scope.

However, he cautions that the cost of MSR should not be allowed to undermine the long-term programmatic balance of the planetary portfolio. If costs increase substantially, NASA should make great efforts to ensure an increase in the budget to ensure the success of this strategic mission, the document warns.

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