![]() A complement of smaller satellites (CubeSats or nanosatellites) would also be deployed along the way to explore a Main Belt asteroid and a Centaur asteroid. This includes a Neptune atmospheric probe (NAP) for studying the planet's interior and a Triton penetration probe (TPP) that would examine the moon's crust. The spacecraft would also carry several instruments to study the planet, its system, and objects along the way. To achieve this, the design for their reactor calls for uranium-235 rods, monolithic uranium-molybdenum alloys, and rod-shaped ceramic elements that allow for efficient high transfer with a lightweight, compact core. Among them, the generator must ensure continuous and controllable heat generation from nuclear fission, reliable heat transfer in the reactor, efficient thermoelectric conversion, and waste heat removal. The team also identified several key processes essential for this system's safe and reliable operation. This system, they write, will be able to supply the mission with "8 years of 10 kWe full power operation and 7 years of 2 kWe low power operation, which can effectively ensure the reliability and safety of the system during the entire mission." Multiple power generation units, where the heat energy is converted into electrical energy, can then be connected in parallel to supply power to the spacecraft. They further recommend that the power supply system be based on a scheme of using one heat pipe, one set of thermoelectric conversion units, and one set of heat sinks as a single power generation unit. "Considering the technical maturity of the space reactor power supply of different power levels, the power requirements of detectors and electric propulsion, the launch capability of the launch vehicle, and the funding, the output power of the space reactor power supply for the Neptune exploration mission is determined to be 10 kWe." This nuclear battery, similar to what the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers use, converts heat energy from the decay of radioactive material into electricity. They determined that a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) with a 10-kilowatt energy (kWe) capacity would suffice. Looking at the power supply issue, Yu and his colleagues needed a source that could safely and reliably provide electricity for no less than fifteen years. Of course, the challenges mentioned above remain, which were used to inform the design of the spacecraft and its mission architecture. The flight path for a possible Neptune Explorer, based on the locations of the planets before 2040. In recent years, NASA has proposed sending a mission to explore Neptune and Triton (the Trident spacecraft). What's more, the nature of Voyager 2's scientific instruments imposed certain limitations on the amount of data it could acquire. This was the Voyager 2 probe, which flew past the system in 1989 and obtained most of what we now know about this ice giant and its system. Unfortunately, due to the difficulties of sending missions to deep space (which includes launch windows, power supply, and communications), only one mission has visited Neptune. Basically, the study of Neptune, its satellites, and its orbital dynamics could provide answers to how the solar system formed, evolved, and how life began. It's also theorized that Triton will eventually break up and form a halo around Neptune or collide with it. The arrival of this planetoid is also thought to have caused a shakeup with Neptune's natural satellites, causing them to break up and coalesce to form new moons. There are also the enduring mysteries of Neptune's largest moon Triton, which astronomers suspect is a planetoid flung from the outer solar system and captured by Neptune's gravity. At the same time, its position indicates where the planets formed (and since migrated to their current orbits). In short, its composition includes large amounts of gas that were part of the protostellar nebula from which our system formed. In addition to its fascinating interior structure (which includes diamond rain!), Neptune is believed to have played an important role in the formation of the solar system. The paper that describes their findings (published in the journal SCIENTIA SINICA Technologica) was led by Guobin Yu, a researcher with the School of Astronautics at Beihang University and the Department of Science and Technology and Quality at the CNSA.Īs they indicate in their paper, ice giants like Neptune are a potential treasure trove of scientific discoveries. The mission was the subject of a study conducted by researchers from the China National Space Agency (CNSA), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the China Atomic Energy Authority, the China Academy of Space Technology, and multiple universities and institutes.
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