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Additionally, from the linked paper [1], it would have required a 15 year transfer phase and a more capable launcher than the Atlas V. The report proposed usin

Additionally, from the linked paper [1], it would have required a 15 year transfer phase and a more capable launcher than the Atlas V. The report proposed using a then-unavailable Ariane 5 variant, which would have delayed the launch to 2016 (to line up the gravity assist with Jupiter) and put the final encounter with Pluto at June 2033. [1] http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/doc/PRO/ACT-RPR-PRO-ISTS2004-Pluto.pdf http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/doc/PRO/ACT-RPR-PRO-ISTS2004-Plut...

yellowapple 11y ago
So basically, if we can build a new probe within the next year and a half, and if this new Arianne variant is now available, we might have a chance of sending an orbiter to reach Pluto by 2033? That sounds like an opportunity that's too good to pass up if we can pull it off. I mean, the flyby's awesome, and it's bound to give us all sorts of new insights on the formation of the Solar System, but having a permanent orbiter there would let us continually study Pluto (and its moons), giving us that degree of information on a continuous basis.
- smeyer 11y ago
  >if we can build a new probe within the next year and a half The amount of cost and level of precision and robustness required tends to mean that these probes take years to plan, design, build, and test. It's also far from clear that the value of the science of sending an orbiter to Pluto would outweigh other potential missions (that also wouldn't have the same timing constraints.)
  - yellowapple 11y ago
    Sure, though it sounds like the ESA's been planning such a probe for quite some time already. The linked report even has specifics on instrumentation payload and the mass thereof, and includes a rendering and parts list for the proposed "POP" probe. We'd just need to do the "build" and "test" parts, and while that likely would normally take a couple years, I reckon we could cram that into a year and a half with enough effort.

yellowapple 11y ago

So basically, if we can build a new probe within the next year and a half, and if this new Arianne variant is now available, we might have a chance of sending an orbiter to reach Pluto by 2033? That sounds like an opportunity that's too good to pass up if we can pull it off. I mean, the flyby's awesome, and it's bound to give us all sorts of new insights on the formation of the Solar System, but having a permanent orbiter there would let us continually study Pluto (and its moons), giving us that degree of information on a continuous basis.

smeyer 11y ago
>if we can build a new probe within the next year and a half The amount of cost and level of precision and robustness required tends to mean that these probes take years to plan, design, build, and test. It's also far from clear that the value of the science of sending an orbiter to Pluto would outweigh other potential missions (that also wouldn't have the same timing constraints.)
- yellowapple 11y ago
  Sure, though it sounds like the ESA's been planning such a probe for quite some time already. The linked report even has specifics on instrumentation payload and the mass thereof, and includes a rendering and parts list for the proposed "POP" probe. We'd just need to do the "build" and "test" parts, and while that likely would normally take a couple years, I reckon we could cram that into a year and a half with enough effort.