where should there be a space mission to

[Findthepin1]

where should there be an unmanned space probe sent to besides earth?

[Bill Phil]

Neptune and Uranus, only one mission to each so far, and it was just a fly by. I'm thinking Galileo/Cassini style, maybe using SLS for high energy trajectories?

Another Mercury orbiter... Maybe lander if possible? Titan sub, Europa lander, other Galilean moon landing missions.

[Kryten]

Uranus orbiter is being considered for the flagship mission after Europa Clipper; it would require either SLS or a highly convoluted set of gravity assist manoeuvres.

[Bill Phil]

Uranus orbiter is being considered for the flagship mission after Europa Clipper; it would require either SLS or a highly convoluted set of gravity assist manoeuvres.

That's interesting. Is there an estimate as to when?

[Kryten]

Mid to late 2030s at the earliest. Would have to beat out MSR for that slot.

[xenomorph555]

EHMEHGERDSANTAPLSWISHLIST:

In no particular order...

-More Venus landers

-Lunar far side landers

-Ceres lander/SR

-Phobos lander/SR

-Mars SRM

-A lander mission to any of the Jupiter/Saturn/Uranus moons (GanymedeGanymedeGanymede!)

-More Titan landers

-A probe designed to go as fast a possible in the direction of Alpha Centuri, it wouldn't achieve much science but it would blaze a trail for interstellar ships.

[Findthepin1]

There has been 1 mention of Mercury, 1 mention of Titan, 1 mention of Neptune, and 3 mentions each of Europa and Uranus. How do I make this a poll?

EDIT: While I was writing someone else posted, so another mention of Titan and Uranus, 1 Venus, 1 Moon, 1 Ceres, 1 Phobos, 1 Mars, lots to the gas giants, and an interstellar one.

ANOTHER EDIT: Poll is done.

Edited May 4, 2015 by Findthepin1

[Albert VDS]

Every option! Why? Because we need to.

[UmbralRaptor]

All of the above. Though I'd prioritize Uranus and Neptune orbiters, given the choice.

[Camacha]

Visit ALL the things!

*Imagine image here*

[magnemoe]

Moon polar regions to look for ice would be my primary mission, it might have significant industrial effects making future missions cheaper.

Europa or other gas giant moons with liquid water would be secondary. mars sample return would be number three.

[Findthepin1]

Every option! Why? Because we need to.

Q: How do we efficiently get something to each and every ball of rock in the Sol system?

A: CUUUUBESAAAATS.

- - - Updated - - -

Visit ALL the things!

Close enough.

[Newt]

I am with many people: VISIT EVERYWHERE!

But, I will also note, as others have, the Uranus/Neptune, have been left out, rather, since thier inclusion on Voyager II, because everything worked out nicley and they got to add them. These places are fascinating, Triton, is simply bizzare, some of the other qualities of difference between the 'Ice Giants' and the larger partners, also deserve to be further explored. Uranus, always shown as, basically nothing on a greenish haze, may have more clouds to it as well (not that plain is not interesting), et cetera.

These areas were seen in a tiny, tiny window of time by a vehicle not built specially to go to them. Sending orbiters there could do quite a bit, and if I could with my magical dust of political will cause one space mission to be pursued, it would probably be one of these.

[prophet_01]

Some efforts on reusable infrastructure would be great, although I guess we still lack a cheap launcher to do that with reasonable results. Visiting them all and do more than a flyby doesn't seem to be an option with that in mind

More extended missions to jupiter's moons would be awesome. An europa, callisto or ganymede lander would be great, maybe an io orbiting probe. Think about those pictures

Mars' moons would also be an interesting destination. A sample return might be quite promising.

More asteroid missions would be great aswell. I would stiil vote for an ARM different from the currently planned approach. A mostly unmanned missions with the redirection of an entire asteroid seems more interesting to me, the manned examination can take place just aswell in LEO. I would like to see this, mostly not for scientiffic reasons, but as a technology demonstrator. Don't want to drift off topic so don't get too heated up on those last thoughts

Edited May 5, 2015 by prophet_01

[Rune]

High-power large ion orbiter probe to Uranus and/or Neptune. Weird places we know little about, and there is little hope of knowing more within our lifetime unless we do something about it. Ideally, the money would just materialize for a nuke-powered 100-500kW system without cutting anything else (this is a wish list, ain't it? no need for realism), and the development effort is either taken form another program, or serves other programs itself.

After that well... I've always been partial to putting a telescope on the Sun's gravitational lensing point...

Rune. Yeah, use the Sun as a lens. Talk about thinking big.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Rune

[crazyewok]

Europa or Titan.

Don't really see there being anything interesting on the outer planets like Neptune and Uranus. Mercury has been done, not sure what more we can learn that's ground breaking. Venus maybe but its a super heated hell.

[ChrisSpace]

While I would like to just throw probes all over the 'system, realistically my top choices would be:

Europa: millions of rocks blasted off earth reached the surface of Europa in the dino-killer asteroid impact event alone, and millions more have arrived since. The statistical likelihood that no organisms have survived the journey and the Europan environment is quite unlikely. Under the layer of ice, which is only 20km thick on average, there is a global ocean far more expansive than any on earth. Conditions in this ocean are very similar to those of the ocean trenches and abyssal plains of earth, and in those environments on earth there are, not just microbes, but macroscopic, complex life forms, who thrive in the extreme conditions. Europa is really the last place in the solar system besides earth that could still hold undiscovered multicellular organisms.

Mars: The next series of probes to reach mars should focus less on finding life and more on preparing to bring humans there. SpaceX and Mars One are already planning to colonize the planet, and many rapidly growing nations are planning their own expeditions. The primary purposes of a precursor mission would be testing fuel, water and oxygen ISRU, measuring exact radiation levels, and locating the best landing sites for human exploration and colonization.

Enceladus: Similar case to Europa's, except the number of earth rocks to reach the surface is much less. This is due to enceladus' small size and gravity as well as it's distance from earth, which makes it a smaller target and means it needs a bigger 'kick' to get there. Additionally, less microbes would survive the much longer flight outwards from earth. Enceladus still holds some potential, though.

Titan: It has seas of Methane rocket fuel and liquefied natural gas. Enough said.

The Moon: The moon is similar to mars in terms of its potential strategic value. Like mars, the moon has water ice at the poles which can be electrolyzed into water, fuel and oxygen. The moon also has large mineral reserves, including deposits of things that are much rarer on earth, such as uranium or Helium-3. Underground lava tubes could provide natural radiation shielding for colonies.

A Mineral-Rich Asteroid: A mineral-rich asteroid, even a small one, could holds hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars of platinum. Asteroids also contain minerals such as Uranium, Iron, Aluminum, Copper, etc etc.

[Bill Phil]

Europa or Titan.

Don't really see there being anything interesting on the outer planets like Neptune and Uranus. Mercury has been done, not sure what more we can learn that's ground breaking. Venus maybe but its a super heated hell.

Uranus and Neptunes have entire moon systems, and all we have really done is take pictures. More data would give us insight to many things. How they formed, the conditions of the solar system then, more data from the moons...

Europa would be nice, but Galilieo has been there, gathered quite a bit of data. Uranus and Neptune are just so far out there, that only one flyby has occurred each. Pluto is just now getting a flyby, if New Horizons is there ( I don't think it is)

[crazyewok]

Uranus and Neptunes have entire moon systems, and all we have really done is take pictures. More data would give us insight to many things. How they formed, the conditions of the solar system then, more data from the moons...

Europa would be nice, but Galilieo has been there, gathered quite a bit of data. Uranus and Neptune are just so far out there, that only one flyby has occurred each. Pluto is just now getting a flyby, if New Horizons is there ( I don't think it is)

Well being a biologist I'm going to be biased to Europa and Enceladus over frozen rocks in the outer solar system

Edited May 5, 2015 by crazyewok

[Jasel]

I'd like to nip the whole ET life thing in the but so I vote: Enceladus - DLR has created something called the ICE MOLE which can burrow through the moons frozen crust. A few days of burrowing and boom alien space whales. You can see video's on VIMEO about it if you speak Deutsch.

RTG powered lander + 1-2 billion = micro life