If you& #39;re not spaced out, the second day of the Planetary Mission Concept Studies ( #PMCS) workshop is getting started. Should finish right before the launch.
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/pmcs2020/format/">https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/...
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/pmcs2020/format/">https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/...
Julie Castillo-Rogez on Assessing Dwarf Planet Ceres’ Past and Present Habitability Potential
Trade between a static lander with sample return or mobile lander
Trade between a static lander with sample return or mobile lander
Lander. Designed to operate for one Mercury year, producing ~10.8 GB of data. Most operations in night, dies after dawn.
Next, @CarlyHowett on Persephone Pluto Orbiter
Launch windows. Jupiter flyby doesn& #39;t help after 2032.
Flying past a KBO adds about one year to the flight time, and we should be able to find one about twice the size of Arrokoth.
Nominal 3 year orbit tour, allow the spacecraft to image the entire surfaces of Pluto and Charon, and do flybys of the small sats. (Huge props to the APL crew for designing a great tour!)
It ain& #39;t cheap (~$3 billion + launch vehicle), but it closed.
Orbiter, 2 subsatellites, 7-day lander, 60+ day balloon, AND experimental long-lived lander. A true Venus fleet.
And that& #39;s it. What a great set of concepts. The Decadal is going to face some hard choices to prioritize.