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| Titel |
The ODINUS Mission Concept: a Mission to the Ice Giant Planets |
| VerfasserIn |
Diego Turrini, Romolo Politi, Roberto Peron, Davide Grassi, Christina Plainaki, Mauro Barbieri, David Massimo Lucchesi, Gianfranco Magni, Francesca Altieri, Valeria Cottini, Nicolas Gorius, Patrick Gaulme, François-Xavier Schmider, Alberto Adriani, Giuseppe Piccioni |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2014
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 16 (2014) |
| Datensatznummer |
250096308
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2014-11806.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| We present the scientific case and the mission concept for the comparative exploration of the
ice giant planets Uranus and Neptune and their satellites with a pair of twin spacecraft:
ODINUS (Origins, Dynamics and Interiors of Neptunian and Uranian Systems). The
ODINUS proposal was submitted in response to the call for white papers for the definition of
the themes of the L2 and L3 mission in the framework of the ESA Cosmic Vision 2015-2025
program. The goal of ODINUS is the advancement of our understanding of the
ancient past of the Solar System and, more generally, of how planetary systems
form and evolve. The mission concept is focused on providing elements to answer
to the scientific themes of the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program: What are the
conditions for planetary formation and the emergency of life? How does the Solar
System work? What are the fundamental physical laws of the Universe? In order
to achieve its goals, the ODINUS mission concept proposed the use of two twin
spacecraft to be put in orbit around Uranus and Neptune respectively, with selected
flybys of their satellites. The proposed measurements aim to study the atmospheres
and magnetospheres of the planets, the surfaces of the satellites, and the interior
structure and composition of both satellites and planets. An important possibility for
performing fundamental physics studies (among them tests of general relativity theory) is
offered by the cruise phase. After the extremely positive evaluation of ESA Senior
Survey Committee, who stated that “the exploration of the icy giants appears to be a
timely milestone, fully appropriate for an L class mission”, we discuss strategies
to comparatively study Uranus and Neptune with future international missions. |
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