A mission to visit the Kuiper belt starting from the orbit of Pluto

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A mission to visit the Kuiper belt starting from the orbit of Pluto





A mission to visit the Kuiper belt starting from the orbit of Pluto


What we very simplistically call the "outer solar system" - that is, everything beyond the asteroid belt - is actually a huge collection of terrifyingly complex planets, dwarf planets, moons, and minor bodies that defy any attempt of classification. What should we explore first? NASA has it clear: the priority they are the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, the worst-studied planets in the solar system. But other planetary scientists believe that focusing on the ice giants is to put aside the Kuiper belt for decades to come, just now that the New Horizons mission has taught us that Pluto is an extremely interesting world. A recent proposal of several researchers led by Alan Stern advocated visiting the ice giants and several objects of the Kuiper belt in the same mission. But what about Pluto? In all existing variants, the largest object of the Kuiper belt - Eris is more massive, but also smaller - is left out of exploration plans. Why? Because the next mission to Pluto should be an orbiter or a landing craft if what we want is to learn more about this fascinating body. And that is a cul-de-sac in energy terms.



PROSERPINE, an electric nuclear propulsion probe (NEP) explores the Pluto system in 2048 (University of Kansas).



That is, a future probe to Pluto could only study this dwarf planet, but, as we have seen, in the outer solar system there are too many targets waiting to be explored. Even using ion propulsion, a ship that reaches Pluto's orbit would have a hard time getting back out of the dwarf planet's gravitational well and exploring other objects in the Kuiper belt. Or not?



Pluto and Charon seen by the New Horizon in 2015 (NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI).



Well, it seems that not necessarily. A team of researchers from SwRI (Southwest Research Institute) formed by Alan Stern, Mark Tapley, Amanda Zangari, John Scherrer and Tiffany Finley, has shown that a future Pluto orbiter could escape the gravity of the dwarf planet "free" to continue with the study of the Kuiper belt. The key is to perform gravitational assist maneuvers between Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. Of course, the probe must be equipped with an electric propulsion system with ionic motors. This type of propulsion has never been used in the outer solar system and would be the first time that an RTG or nuclear reactor was used to power the ion or plasma engines instead of solar panels.

The probe would conduct a systematic study of Pluto and its five moons using dozens of Charon's overflights. This would allow carrying out a minimum of five overflights of the other four smaller moons (Nix, Hydra, Cerbera and Stygia), as well as observing the polar regions of Pluto and Charon. After about fifty overflights of Charon accompanied by about fifteen close encounters with Pluto to study its atmosphere and take high resolution images, the probe could escape the system and take course to an object Kuiper belt. Depending on the geometry of the encounter, the ship could be placed in orbit using its electric propulsion system. On the other hand, Zangari, Finley and Stern have identified in another paper up to 45 objects of the Kuiper belt that can be visited by a probe as long as it is launched between 2025 and 2040. In the same article the possibility of missions to Eris or Sedna using gravitational assistance of Jupiter and Neptune, or missions to Quaoar, Makemake and Haumea through Jupiter and Saturn (in this case you could not explore an ice giant). There is also the option of traveling to Varuna after a Jupiter overflight and another of Uranus. All these missions would last a maximum of 25 years (of course, if instead of visiting the aforementioned objects we choose other bodies of the Kuiper belt of minor importance, the number of possible missions increases). In other words, we have a real chance to study Uranus and Neptune along with several objects from the Kuiper belt, an option that could be incorporated into a multiple mission of two probes that includes an orbiter to Pluto and another smaller body.



Possible mission architecture of a probe in the Pluto system with escape trajectory using assistance maneuvers with Charon (SwRI).



Charon's use to move through the Pluto system is reminiscent of the orbits that the Cassini probe made around Saturn, using Titan's gravity to move through the set of moons, and it will be similar to what a hypothetical Neptune orbiter would use, that would also have to use the gravity of the largest moon on the planet, in this case Triton (Jupiter and Uranus are different cases, and more favorable, because there are several large satellites that can be used for gravitational assistance maneuvers). The idea of ​​playing with the gravity of Pluto and Charon to move through the system is not new and similar architectures had already been proposed, but the difference is that before the meeting of the New Horizons in 2015 the exact mass and size were not known of both bodies and, therefore, the trajectories had a very high uncertainty. In addition, the exact number of Pluto's smaller moons or their orbits was not known, an essential requirement to carefully plan an exhaustive tour of the Plutonian system.



Example of a mission that, after orbiting Pluto, would fly over other Kuiper belt bodies before entering orbit around 2002 MS4 (SwRI).



What would a probe like this look like? It's still too early to tell, but you could use a larger New Horizons with an electric propulsion system or a completely different design, like the PROSERPINE proposal from a group of students at the University of Kansas. PROSERPINE (Pluto Research Orbiter Studying Experimental Rocket Propulsion for Improving trans-Neptunian Exploration) would be a 4.4-ton Pluto orbiter equipped with electric nuclear propulsion (NEP) that would carry xenon-based ion engines to move through the Plutonian system. It would take off around 2031 by means of a rocket similar to the Atlas V and, after realizing a Jupiter overflight, it would arrive at Pluto in 2048.



PROSERPINE: a NEP nuclear electric propulsion probe proposal to study Pluto (University of Kansas).





Details of PROSERPINE (University of Kansas).



The probe would have three NEXT ion engines (NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster) and would transport 1,350 kg of xenon, enough to achieve a total Delta-V of 17 km / s. The main novelty of the mission is that it would not use RTG, but would be fed by a Kilopower nuclear reactor of 8.5 kilowatts of electrical power (come on, a kind of Prometheus Project 2.0). PROSERPINE is a simple proposal without an official character, but obviously something like that could be adapted for a mission that studied Pluto and another body of the Kuiper belt. As we see, it will not be for ideas. The problem is that the number of interesting targets of the outer solar system does not stop increasing, but the percentage of them that can be visited after overflights of giant planets is very small. And, as if that were not enough, flight times are extremely long. Will we have patience and health to endure until 2050?

References:



https://www.swri.org/press-release/swri-pluto-orbiter-kuiper-belt-charon-gravity-assist

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1810.07811.pdf

https://www.aiaa.org/1st-Place-Univ-Kansas/

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