If you could fund one mission, what would it be?

[Klapaucius]

I'm 51 years old.  I truly, truly want to live long enough to see a Cassini-like mission to Uranus and Neptune.  Those missions keep getting shunted aside. Okay, that's two, but I group the ice giants together.

[NFUN]

One mission? Self-sustainable Titan colony

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

1 hour ago, Klapaucius said:

If you could fund one mission, what would it be.

JWST 

I Just Want it in Space Today 

[SunlitZelkova]

The Aelita Project (1969). Let apple trees grow on Mars!

[Hannu2]

I agree with orbiter probe to Uranus or Neptunus (planet scientists are probably better to decide which than I), if I was limited to somewhat realistic missions. But I am not sure how realistic they are without fission powered ion propulsion.

[Gargamel]

A fully submersible exploratory mission, manned or otherwise, to the ice moons (Europa, Enceladus).

12 hours ago, Klapaucius said:

I'm 51 years old.  I truly, truly want to live long enough to see a Cassini-like mission to Uranus and Neptune.  Those missions keep getting shunted aside. Okay, that's two, but I group the ice giants together.

Why not both?   Their mission requirements are very similar (send a bunch of cameras and other instruments to this remote planet), take a not disimilar amount of fuel, so they could probably be developed concurrently to save costs. 

[DDE]

7 minutes ago, Hannu2 said:

But I am not sure how realistic they are without fission powered ion propulsion.

Sooner or later someone is going to have to make that leap. Judging by Army-2021, KB Arsenal seems to have switched its nuclear tug design compared to the full-scale hardware (mockup?) previously show behind closed doors at Army-2020; I wonder how Equipage is doing in the meantime.

[Gargamel]

10 minutes ago, Hannu2 said:

But I am not sure how realistic they are without fission powered ion propulsion.

I'm working on the assumption that the amount of funding wasn't a concern, just that it was funded.   Therefore conventional rocketry isn't a problem, just add moar boosters.  And some skillful Oberthing......

[DDE]

2 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

I'm working on the assumption that the amount of funding wasn't a concern, just that it was funded.   Therefore conventional rocketry isn't a problem, just add moar boosters.  And some skillful Oberthing......

[kerbiloid]

Mercury.

 

[Codraroll]

Any mission? Funds available at my wish?

Hmm, a space elevator would probably do for a start. 

[Spaceman.Spiff]

This one:

https://science.nasa.gov/science-pink/s3fs-public/atoms/files/Neptune Odyssey.pdf

[AtomicTech]

Interstellar trip with pictures!

[tater]

Not picking something well beyond current TRLs, I'd like to see an NTP test flight. Any NTP, but with enough propellant to give it a decent workout. Obviously needs some instruments and a high gain for whereever they would send it.

[DDE]

16 minutes ago, tater said:

a high gain for whereever they would send it.

We were all onboard until that last part.

[MKI]

This might be a rather long wait, but Breakthrough Starshot

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot

 

 

[wumpus]

1 hour ago, MKI said:

This might be a rather long wait, but Breakthrough Starshot

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot

I'd have to wonder just how much easier it would be just to launch a probe with an RTG and an ion thruster.  Sure, you won't have the thrust of 100GW of lasers, but you can keep accelerating as long as you want (as opposed to somewhere between Mars and Jupiter when the lasers can't focus on a 4km target).  Use Americium if you want longer power (and more easily ignore the anti-nuke brigade), although I don't expect an ion thruster to outlast a Pu RTG.

Consider using Krypton or Argon as well, you'll want a *lot* of propellant, and won't get close to .1c (or whatever Starshot is claiming with an unlimited budget).

But really, Orion shall rise!

[Beccab]

1 minute ago, wumpus said:

I'd have to wonder just how much easier it would be just to launch a probe with an RTG and an ion thruster.  Sure, you won't have the thrust of 100GW of lasers, but you can keep accelerating as long as you want (as opposed to somewhere between Mars and Jupiter when the lasers can't focus on a 4km target).  Use Americium if you want longer power (and more easily ignore the anti-nuke brigade), although I don't expect an ion thruster to outlast a Pu RTG.

Consider using Krypton or Argon as well, you'll want a *lot* of propellant, and won't get close to .1c (or whatever Starshot is claiming with an unlimited budget).

But really, Orion shall rise!

It's sad that NASA only has 1 more unassigned RTG available until enough more plutonium is produced, they can be so damn useful

[Gargamel]

6 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Mercury.

 

They finished that project like 4-5 Billion years ago.   Already funded. 

[MKI]

56 minutes ago, wumpus said:

I'd have to wonder just how much easier it would be just to launch a probe with an RTG and an ion thruster.

Its easier and more feasible, but I would also weigh a lot more and probably end up being much slower. 

Even if you did get it to the target within a reasonable time-frame, you also have the issue you can only afford to build and send 1, which probably is a bad idea if your traveling at a percentage of lightspeed you might not even make it. 

 

 

[Beccab]

7 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

They finished that project like 4-5 Billion years ago.   Already funded. 

There's also the other Mercury project but it ended as well, this one about 60 years ago

[NFUN]

1 hour ago, Gargamel said:

They finished that project like 4-5 Billion years ago.   Already funded. 

Funding was cut. They built the planet but failed to include anything interesting. At the least, we should be able to build the mile-high molten lead slide

[MKI]

34 minutes ago, NFUN said:

They built the planet but failed to include anything interesting.

Maybe we just have to dig to find the alien ruins, can't make it too easy

[kerbiloid]

Apple just has revealed the new iPhone.

Maybe, it's a time to launch one to another Grand Tour.

It has many pixels and camera stabilization. 

And it's much lighter than Voyager.

[Hannu2]

13 hours ago, NFUN said:

Funding was cut. They built the planet but failed to include anything interesting. At the least, we should be able to build the mile-high molten lead slide

Let's hope that they release a new content DLC soon which give reason to investigate planets for others than science nerds who find a table of isotope contents interesting. Complete planet surface overhaul could add crazy geologic and weather effects, beautiful colors, scary lifeforms, including huge monsters, huge deposits of precious metals in pure form, etc. to all planets and moons.