What do we need to visit? It was the question asked by the scientific community of the United States, in reference to the planets that make up the Solar system. There are several answers to this question, but the one that most interested was that of Uranus.
It is the second planet farthest from the Sun and therefore one of the furthest from Earth. It is in the outer zone of the Solar System, that is to say, after the asteroid belt and has only been photographed by one of the Voyager space probes, in its passage through this zone more than 30 years ago.
Its characteristics, the scientists say, are enough for NASA to consider a mission to Uranus as a priority at the end of this decade or the beginning of the next. In fact, they’ve already devised a plan that involves two space probes going to pry into this little-known world of our own backyard of the universe.
Some characteristics of Uranus
According to a review by The countryUranus is the most unknown planet in our Solar System. However, there are some facts that make it something interesting that is worth exploring. It is, in principle, four times larger than Earth.
It has the particularity that it rotates in the opposite way to the rest of the worlds and a year in this world is the equivalent of 84 on Earth. Its winter lasts 21 of our years and temperatures of up to 220 degrees below zero can be recorded; something understandable due to its distance from the Sun.
El País reports that the National Academy of Sciences of the United States met and established as a priority for NASA that a mission to Uranus begin in 2024. The idea is to send a kind of double space probe in which one penetrates the atmosphere of this world and another remains in the surroundings of the orbit.
They set a budget that exceeds 2,000 million dollars. “No other robotic mission will be able to generate more scientific knowledge,” they said,
“The mission will be able to clarify the origin and evolution of the solar system, as well as explain the phenomena that happen only on the mysterious Uranus,” explained Kathleen Mandt, of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
Going to this world could answer the reasons why you are in your current position and the reasons for your reverse rotation. In addition, it could be known if under the ice crust that covers the surface of one of its moons there is an ocean capable of harboring life.
Getting there will not be easy. It is 3,000 million kilometers. With current technology between 12 and 15 years of travel.
