Other
Scientific paper
Sep 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.3202s&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #32.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.451
Other
Scientific paper
Recent, ongoing, and planned space missions exist for terrestrial planets, gas giant systems, and Pluto, but not for the ice giant systems and the rest of the outer Solar System. Argo will fill this major gap by encountering the Neptune system and then continuing on to encounter a large (or otherwise interesting) Kuiper Belt Object (KBO).
Exploration of the Neptune system has been stymied by a perception that a flagship-class orbiter is required for major scientific progress. Yet our understanding of the Neptune system has improved dramatically since Voyager. By capitalizing on that new knowledge and using current technology, the Argo flyby will revolutionize our knowledge of Neptune, its atmosphere, magnetosphere and rings, and Triton and other moons. A close flyby of Triton will allow high-resolution mapping, near-IR spectral maps, and radio and solar occultations for atmospheric studies. The Neptune gravity-assist allows access to a huge cone ( 4000x greater than for New Horizons) of the Kuiper Belt, including many potential, known KBO targets to choose from. Combined with New Horizons’ exploration of Pluto and a KBO, Argo's study of Triton (a captured dwarf-planet) and another KBO will double the number of KBOs/dwarf-planets with detailed spacecraft studies.
Argo combines a focused science package, current instrument technology, and current spacecraft technology with several launch opportunities that exist in the next decade, and provides a mission concept that fits within the expected New Frontiers cost envelope. Our mission concept includes avenues for cost savings in development, operations, and the launch vehicle. Argo will require nuclear power, so the concept will be submitted for the fourth New Frontiers (not the current NF03) call.
Aljabri Abdullah
Banfield Don
Brown Malcolm
Colwell Josh
Dougherty Michele
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