Uranus Proposal

Introduction

In my mission proposal I believe that the ideal candidate for this mission is to send an orbit to Uranus. I believe this would be an ideal candidate due to four factors

1. The lack of an orbiter used to examine this planet previously- This is a large factor in the decision to send a probe to Uranus as this provide us a greater detailed view of the planet due to previous examinations of the planet being just flybys.

2. Studies into the composition of the atmosphere surrounding Uranus- This would be useful as it would be able to tell us how the extremely cold temperatures effect a gas giant including how the build up came about with the planets density being quite like Jupiter’s despite having less than half the diameter of the

Investigation of the planets magnetic field and how its extreme axial tilt affects its interaction with the solar winds- This would be useful as it would help us in discovering the unique facets of this planets magnetic field such as why the field is so strong compared to the planets makeup and the large displacement of the center of the magnetic field when compared the center of the plane

4. Examination of the moon Miranda- Miranda is an oddly shaped moon within orbit of Uranus with some of its features thought only possible in a moon much larger than it actually is, by studying this moon we may be able to learn more about how moons form.

5. I believe these reasons alone make another trip to the planet a necessity for future missions though there ae many more such as a close observation of Uranus’ moons and looking to see if any have a liquid water based inner surface which would help us in the examination of future planets that may contain

It was at this point we gained much of our currently known information about the planets including the positioning of its magnetic field and the fact that after interacting with the solar winds from the sun it forms a corkscrew shape as opposed to more traditional shape which were both unknown of before the flyby. Though this information is useful to us a much more modern mission that last longer. The reason for this would be to take a specialist look at Uranus’ magnetic field due to the predictions that instead of remaining as a solid barrier to solar winds it instead tends to “switch on and off” this is due to the orientation of the magnetic field constantly shifting around. This combined with the displacement of the magnetic center of the planet from the geographic center causes particles from the sun to sometimes flood onto the planetary surface. Other information that voyager did not gather was while it discovered 10 of Uranus’ moon there was no physical or chemical analysis of these moons done to provide us with information on how they were formed or their suitability to the possibility of life on