Exploring Uranus With a Spacecraft to Uranus

Voyager 2’s brief flyby of Uranus in 1986 provided much of what astronomers know about it; yet, its brief encounter also left behind surprises which are still being researched today by scientists.

Now, an influential group of scientists have proposed that NASA make exploring this mysterious ice giant a top priority. However, which instruments should such an expedition carry?

The Uranus Orbiter Project (UOP)

Uranus boasts not only an exotic atmosphere but also 27 moons, an intricate system of rings, and a mysterious magnetosphere, making it an intriguing target for exploration. Due to its polar orbit and changing season every 42 years, Uranus flagship missions have featured prominently in past planetary science decadal surveys which provide guidance for NASA budgetary priorities, yet this marks the first time such proposals are given top priority status.

UOP mission is a flagship-class concept from NASA – its most expensive and complex missions with multiple high-priority science questions to be answered – consisting of an orbiter and atmospheric probe.

The mission’s primary aim is to fly by Uranus twice using Titania as a gravity assist and gradually decrease its orbital inclination with each pass. Subsequently, the spacecraft will conduct an orbital tour around Uranus’ major moons while searching for any signs of geological activity; furthermore it will use this opportunity to investigate Uranus’ magnetosphere, rings, and small satellites.

The Uranus Orbiter Mission (UOM)

An orbiter to Uranus would make an invaluable contribution to planetary science, heliophysics, and exoplanet astronomy. Most known exoplanets are hot Neptune-sized or smaller planets whose behavior must be understood for theories about their formation to emerge.

An orbiter to Uranus would help researchers make important discoveries about its atmosphere and 23 moons, which remain one of the solar system’s least understood bodies with an unusual axial tilt and large rings and satellites composed both of ice and rock. Voyager 2 discovered evidence of active surface processes on some larger satellites – raising speculation that Uranus’ moons might contain liquid water oceans beneath their icy shells.

The Uranus Orbiter Concept (UOC)

Workshop participants emphasized the significance of telescopic observations for mission formulation. Such observations could help refine scientific questions, influence instrument choice before building begins on spacecraft, and even reduce risk by providing information about potential material between Uranus’ innermost known ring and planet itself – an area through which UOP would pass.

The UOP concept envisages the deployment of an atmospheric probe shortly after orbit insertion, followed by a tour of Uranus’ five large moons and a 4.5-year science mission aimed at fulfilling a variety of high priority scientific objectives, such as:

One reason the 2023 workshop’s attendees were so eager to tackle this challenge is due to Uranus being an ice giant with numerous mysteries about its axial tilt and energy balance, complex magnetic field dynamics, atmospheric dynamics, five large, icy satellites potentially representing ocean worlds with surprising degrees of geological activity, rings that expand too quickly without losing sharp edges; five large satellites potentially representing ocean worlds; five extra shepherd moons keeping dense rings from expanding too rapidly with losing sharp edges; five potential ocean worlds that might host life forms that make up potential ocean worlds like Uranus even further from our understanding.

The Uranus Orbiter Concept Document (UOCD)

Uranus remains one of the least explored worlds in our solar system; NASA only visited via Voyager 2’s flyby in 1986. It presents many scientific challenges to scientists studying our own Sun, such as its complex atmosphere dynamics and interior structure as well as an unpredictable magnetic field; additionally its five large icy moons may serve as ocean worlds; its tilt and energy balance have long been mysteries to scientists while its unique heliophysics offer important clues as to its creation.

Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) is a flagship-class mission concept approved in the 2023-2033 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey as the highest priority new flagship spacecraft mission concept. UOP deploys an atmospheric probe shortly after orbit insertion, conducts multiple flybys of Titania to reduce its orbital inclination, then completes an equatorial tour of all major Uranus moons over an approximate 4.5 year science mission.