Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Sep 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.1601h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #16.01
Mathematics
Logic
Scientific paper
Revolutionary new ideas about the evolution of the outer solar system and its coupling with the primordial and present-day Kuiper Belt suggest that Neptune may have formed much closer to the sun than its current position. This new perspective and the fact that nearly all aspects of the Neptune system that we can measure from Earth have changed dramatically since Voyager, including Neptune's atmosphere, its ring system, and the atmosphere of its large moon Triton, demands a new examination of Neptune. A spacecraft equipped with modern technology, on a flyby trajectory past Neptune, will yield significant new ice-giant-system science.
A Neptune flyby also provides a critical advantage over a Neptune orbiter: it offers the opportunity to explore a scientifically-selected Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) because of the trajectory's large bending angle due to massive Neptune. This allows access to a vast cone of space, yielding numerous potential targets among the known KBO population. Observations of KBOs have illuminated the formation and early evolution of the solar system. The compositional make-up and chemical evolution of KBOs provide clues of the earliest conditions in critical regions of the solar nebula, and the current distributions of astrobiologically and cosmochemically important materials.
Argo is an innovative mission concept for New Frontiers 4: it flies by Triton and Neptune, and continues on to explore a Kuiper Belt Object. A launch opportunity is open from 2015 through 2019. It allows trajectories with reasonably short trip times to Neptune (8-11 years) and the Kuiper Belt (an additional 3-5 years), as well as low Triton approach speeds. We envision a New Frontiers mission employing current spacecraft technology with a simple yet capable payload.
This work was partially supported by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
ARGO Science Team
Hansen Candice
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