My guess is we'll go back to Pluto in the same way New Horizons did--as a fly-by without plans to stick around. Let's face it, it's a relatively minor celestial body; something worth noting when you're in the area, but not worth making the trip specifically for.
New Horizons at Pluto
- Thread starter Corsair 115
- Start date
-
- Tags
- astronomy new horizons pluto
Skeptic Ginger
Nasty Woman
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2005
- Messages
- 96,955
I believe you've missed the key aspect of the mission: that is, to explore the Kuiper Belt Objects. The surprising findings will surely lead to more interest in the outer solar system.
Ziggurat
Penultimate Amazing
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2003
- Messages
- 61,741
If we head out that far again, I'd rather we visit some place new. I'm particularly curious about Haumea.
Belz...
Fiend God
Meh. The real challenge is Sedna.
Trouble is, the Kuiper Belt is a really big place. My thought is that if/when we visit Pluto again, it'll be as a series of fly-bys to examine such objects.
Susheel
Illuminator
Me too, Haumea...I am tired of balls.
BenBurch
Gatekeeper of The Left
My opinion is that there will be a "third space age" when we can finally pair up advanced electric engines with nuclear reactors and get reaction mass from the moon and go pretty much anywhere in the Solar System within a few months.
That is when we will orbit Pluto.
That is when we will orbit Pluto.
Gawdzilla Sama
TImeToSweepTheLeg
Denver
Penultimate Amazing
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2007
- Messages
- 10,015
The fifth age, after the Bergenholm age, will begin once the 4th age runs out of adjectives.
Gawdzilla Sama
TImeToSweepTheLeg
Terse Age.
Trebuchet
Penultimate Amazing
Pluto is SO 2015! We need to go someplace we haven't properly been. Neptune/Triton get my vote. Orbiter of course.
I say, pick the places most likely to have life and send probes back to them. See if we can nail down if any actually have life or not.
abaddon
Penultimate Amazing
Sure. Europa would be my bet. Got a whole sack of technological challenges but that didn't stop us before.
i suppose we'd really want to land there with some device trundling about like the ones on Mars, taking samples to see if any traces of life have percolated up to the surface through cracks in the ice. Is that within the scope of current technology?
I take it that creatures living in igloos on the surface and "fishing" through holes in the ice are unlikely to be found.
Foster Zygote
Dental Floss Tycoon
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2006
- Messages
- 22,131
I think the first Europa mission will be a Lander or rover to examine the chemistry of the surface. If we found signs, or even hints, of biology, then Europa would pretty much have to be to main focus of every space agency on Earth.
Monketi Ghost
Confusion Reactor
- Joined
- May 21, 2003
- Messages
- 25,141
We've done been told already.
Attachments
Gawdzilla Sama
TImeToSweepTheLeg
Definitely look for hints in the upwellings before trying to drill into the liquidsphere.
Titan is better--if there is life, it'll be at the surface of those organic solvent ponds. We've already sent a probe there; all we need to do is go back and send a probe with a digital camera and radio. Add a few other bells and whistles, perhaps, but not many--the point is to see if there is life, and the "seeing" part is the key.
Or, even better: a combo mission. Have the craft drop such a probe off on Titan, stick around for a while to relay the info back to Earth, then go to Europa, repeat, then go to the next candidate, repeat...(obviously the itinerary is flexible). It'd take a while, but it would be worth it. We could, with one mission, answer one of the greatest questions of all time: Are we alone?
Belz...
Fiend God
Come on. What are they going to do ? Blot out the sun ? Give me a break !