Uranus Orbiter and Probe: Visiting an Ice Giant
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| Image of Uranus as Voyager 2 flew by. Credit: NASA/JPL |
- Launch Date: NET 2031
- Launch Site: Space Launch Complex 39A, Cape Canaveral Florida, United States
- Launch Vehicle: Falcon Heavy Full Expendable (Perhaps moved to Starship once it's proven)
- Mission Type: Orbiter & Atmospheric Penetrator
- Target: Uranus
- Dimensions: 7.1 Meters tall and 5 Meters across
- Mass: 7,235 Kilograms
You can build your own Uranus Orbiter and Probe out of LEGO here.
The Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) mission is a proposal from the 2022 Decadal Survey. This survey happens every decade, as you would expect, and selects top priority targets for future space missions.
The Proposal
The proposal is that construction of the spacecraft could start fairly soon, with completion around 2030. The launcher for the spacecraft was proposed to be an expendable Falcon Heavy rocket. While we've seen the first expendable Falcon Heavy launch earlier this year, a more suitable launcher might be the upcoming Starship rocket.
After launch, expected around 2033 (so add 2-5 more years to that), the spacecraft would use a gravity assist around Jupiter to boost it to Uranus. This is actually a good incentive to launch the spacecraft on schedule, because Jupiter won't always be in the right place for a gravity assist. If a Jupiter assist isn't possible due to delays, then the journey will be much longer.
Withholding delays, and given that the spacecraft can make a gravity assist of Jupiter, the UOP would arrive at Uranus in 2044. On approach, the spacecraft would release an atmospheric probe like the Galileo mission did at Jupiter.
Once in orbit around the planet, the Orbiter would take measurements and images of the planet, its rings, and its moons, like the Cassini mission did at Saturn.
The Target
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| Image of Uranus from Voyager 2. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech |
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