Impractical missions of the far future
Jan. 13th, 2005 12:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fivemackAm I right that Uranus is a uniquely poor target for a Cassini / Galileo class satellite-tour mission, since it lacks a gigantic satellite for Oberth-effect maneouvres, so you'd have to carry fuel enough for every orbit change you'd want to do?
http://www.alcyone.com/software/botec/
suggests that it's 3km/sec delta-v from Oberon to Miranda, which is really a very large burn if you have to do it without benefit of slingshot. And I suspect slingshotting round Uranus requires a perigee low enough that you worry about running into the rings; whilst the main rings are well-delimited, http://wisp.physics.wisc.edu/astro104/lecture25/F16_10.jpg (a back-lit image) suggests that there are ringlets everywhere, it's no safer than trying to fly through the Cassini division.
Tom, contemplating icy moons.
http://www.alcyone.com/software/botec/
suggests that it's 3km/sec delta-v from Oberon to Miranda, which is really a very large burn if you have to do it without benefit of slingshot. And I suspect slingshotting round Uranus requires a perigee low enough that you worry about running into the rings; whilst the main rings are well-delimited, http://wisp.physics.wisc.edu/astro104/lecture25/F16_10.jpg (a back-lit image) suggests that there are ringlets everywhere, it's no safer than trying to fly through the Cassini division.
Tom, contemplating icy moons.
Yes...
Date: 2005-01-13 01:10 am (UTC)I'm sorry, someone had to do that. There were so many other obvious comments...