NASA advised to prioritise Uranus exploration to understand evolution of solar system

A decadal survey prepared by a panel of experts have suggested that NASA must prioritise exploration of Uranus and Saturn’s moon Enceladus in the following decade. The recommendation has been made by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) which sets out goals for planetary science once every decade. The recent report, titled Origins, Worlds, and Life, said "The committee prioritizes the Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) as the highest-priority new Flagship mission for initiation in the decade 2023–2032". 

NASA advised to explore Uranus for uncovering universal secrets

The NAS report includes many suggestions, a major part of which is the Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP). The scientists are emphasising the importance of Uranus so much because it is located about three billion kilometres from the sun and has only been visited once- during a brief flyby of Voyager-2 spacecraft in 1986. Sending a probe would help scientists understand the evolutionary history of our solar system. 

The plan behind sending the UOP is that its orbiter would circle Uranus for a few years while its probe would dive in to determine the planet’s characteristics such as composition, temperature and circulation. Robin Canup, from the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, said as per New Scientist, “This would be the first ever mission focused on one of the ice giants, which is particularly important now that we think ice giants might be the most common type of planet in the universe”. 

The second major recommendation of the scientists is the Enceladus Orbilander, a probe meant to explore Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus. Under this mission, the Orbilander, which would be both an orbiter and a lander, would circle the Moon for 1.5 years. Interestingly, the probe would be used to collect plumes of water samples spewed from the Moon’s hidden ocean. The mission to Uranus is estimated to launch in early 2030s whereas the Enceladus probe might launch in late 2030s or early 2040s. 

Other NASA recommendations

NASA’s Mars Sample Return program, which requires fetching the rock and soil samples collected by Perseverance rover, has been given the highest priority. NASA has plans to execute the plan this decade wherein it will send a probe to Mars to collect the samples and retrieve them in early 2030s. Another recommendation include a Moon rover named Endurance-A, which would collect samples from the Moon’s south pole. 

The NASA had presented its last decadal survey in 2011 wherein a mission to collect samples (Perseverance rover) and a probe to Jupiter’s moon Europa was recommended. The mission to Europa- Europa clipper is being prepared for launch in 2024. 

Image: NASA