Scientists Think Probing Uranus Should Be Top Priority

By Adam Barnhardt

Scientists say funding for space exploration has never been higher, and a select group hopes to use a substantial amount of that money to probe Uranus. In a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine — one of the most influential bodies advising NASA — a mission to Uranus should be a top priority for the space agency in the coming years.

The group says ice giants are "likely the most common class of planets" in the known universe, hence an increased focus on Uranus. "We saw this mission as delivering absolutely transformative, breakthrough science because we know so little about these systems. We are sure there are going to be lots of surprises once we get there," Robin Canup said in the report released by the group.

According to a supporting white paper from NASA's Mark Hofstadter, the agency could launch an orbiter to Uranus with launchers currently on hand. Hofstadter and his team even explain that if the mission launches in 2031 or 2032, Jupiter's orbit and gravitational pull could even make for a quicker trip for the launch.

The group explains that it hopes scientists are further able to research the makeup of Uranus and its magnetic field while diving deeper into the nature of its magnetic field, atmosphere, moons, and rings.

A second white paper pitches the idea of an extended mission to Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons that could be hosting some form of alien life. The satellite has been hypothesized to include an ocean of liquid water under its crust, meaning alien microbes could technically exist on the moon.

"Whether life exists beyond Earth remains a fundamental question driving our exploration of the Solar System. At Saturn's moon Enceladus, plumes of oceanic material vented into space allow the investigation of the astrobiological potential of an ocean world, hinted at by Cassini, without the necessity of drilling through kilometers of ice crust," the paper explains.

NASA has only sent one probe past Uranus to date. The Voyager 2 aircraft made an approach to the planet in 1986 and discover 10 moons while photographing its atmosphere and ring system.

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