Abstract
The “Ice Giants” Uranus and Neptune are a different class of planet compared to Jupiter and Saturn. Studying these objects is important for furthering our understanding of the formation and evolution of the planets, and unravelling the fundamental physical and chemical processes in the Solar System. The importance of filling these gaps in our knowledge of the Solar System is particularly acute when trying to apply our understanding to the numerous planetary systems that have been discovered around other stars. The Uranus Pathfinder (UP) mission thus represents the quintessential aspects of the objectives of the European planetary community as expressed in ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015–2025. UP was proposed to the European Space Agency’s M3 call for medium-class missions in 2010 and proposed to be the first orbiter of an Ice Giant planet. As the most accessible Ice Giant within the M-class mission envelope Uranus was identified as the mission target. Although not selected for this call the UP mission concept provides a baseline framework for the exploration of Uranus with existing low-cost platforms and underlines the need to develop power sources suitable for the outer Solar System. The UP science case is based around exploring the origins, evolution, and processes at work in Ice Giant planetary systems. Three broad themes were identified: (1) Uranus as an Ice Giant, (2) An Ice Giant planetary system, and (3) An asymmetric magnetosphere. Due to the long interplanetary transfer from Earth to Uranus a significant cruise-phase science theme was also developed. The UP mission concept calls for the use of a Mars Express/Rosetta-type platform to launch on a Soyuz–Fregat in 2021 and entering into an eccentric polar orbit around Uranus in the 2036–2037 timeframe. The science payload has a strong heritage in Europe and beyond and requires no significant technology developments.
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Acknowledgements
CSA was supported by a Science and Technology Facilities Council Postdoctoral Fellowship. LNF was supported by a Glasstone Fellowship at the University of Oxford. We wish to thank EADS Astrium and Systems Engineering and Assessment Ltd. for their assistance with this study.
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Appendix A
Appendix A
The 165 individuals (109 in Europe, in 67 institutes in 13 countries) listed below support the UP mission.
1.1 Argentina
Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio
Cèsar Bertucci
1.2 Belgium
Royal Observatory of Belgium
Ozgur Karatekin
Université de Liège
Aikaterini Radioti, Bertrand Bonfond, Denis Grodent, Jacques Gustin, Jean-Claude Gérard
University of Namur
Benoît Noyelles
1.3 Czech Republic
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Prague
Benjamin Grison, Jan Soucek, Ondrej Santolik, Vratislav Krupar
1.4 France
Centre d’Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements
Nicolas André
CNRS-UJF, Laboratoire de Planétologie de Grenoble, Bâtiment D de physique, Grenoble
Mathieu Barthélémy
IAS, Université Paris Sud
Yves Langevin
IMCCE
Valery Lainey, Jacques Laskar, Nicolas Rambaux
Laboratoire AIM, Université Paris Diderot/CEA/CNRS
Sebastien Charnoz
LATMOS
Francois Leblanc, Eric Quémerais
LESIA, L’Observatoire de Paris
Baptiste Cecconi, Carine Briand, Daniel Gautier, Laurent Lamy, Olga Alexandrova, Philippe Zarka, Pierre Henri, Regis Courtin, Renée Prangé, Sandrine Vinatier
LPCEE, Orléans
Aurélie Marchaudon
LPG, CNRS-Université de Nantes
Gabriel Tobie
LPP, Ecole Polytechnique
Patrick Canu
Observatoire de Besançon
Jean-Marc Petit, Olivier Mousis
ONERA
Christophe Bruno
Université de Versailles
Ronan Modolo
1.5 Germany
DLR
Frank Sohl
Freie Universität Berlin
Gerhard Neukum, Stephan van Gasselt
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
Ulrich Christensen, Norbert Krupp, Elias Roussos
Technical University Braunschweig
Karl-Heinz Glassmeier
Universität der Bundeswehr München
Thomas Andert, Bernd Häusler
University of Cologne
Fritz M Neubauer, Martin Pätzold, Joachim Saur, Silvia Tellmann
Universität Rostock
Nadine Nettelmann
1.6 Greece
Academy of Athens
Nick Sergis
1.7 Hungary
KFKI Research Institute for Particle & Nucl. Physics
Geza Erdös, Karoly Szego, Sándor Szalai
1.8 Israel
Tel Aviv University
Aharon Eviatar
1.9 Japan
JAXA
Sarah Badman, Satoshi Kasahara
1.10 Spain
Centro de Astrobiologia, Madrid
Javier Martin-Torres
ESA ESAC
Stefan Remus
University of the Basque Country
Ricardo Huesco, Santiago Perez-Hoyos, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega
1.11 Sweden
Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna
Stas Barabash, Yasir Soobiah
Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala
Jan-Erik Wahlund
1.12 United Kingdom
Aberystwyth University
Mario Bisi, Andy Breen, Tony Cook
Armagh Observatory
Tolis Christou
Imperial College London
Leah-Nani S. Alconcel, Michele K. Dougherty, Marina Galand, Caitríona M. Jackman, Daniel Went, Ingo Müller-Wodarg
Open University
Dave Rothery
Queen Mary University of London
Carl D. Murray, Craig B. Agnor
University College London
Nicholas Achilleos, Chris Arridge, Andrew Coates, M. Entradas, Andrew Fazakerley, Colin Forsyth, A. Dominic Fortes, Patrick Guio, Geraint H. Jones, Sheila Kanani, Gethyn R Lewis, Steve Miller, Adam Masters, Chris Owen, Alan Smith, Andrew P. Walsh
University of Bristol
Nick Teanby
University of Leicester
David Andrews, Emma Bunce, Stanley W H Cowley, Stephanie Kellett, Henrik Melin, Steve Milan, Jon Nichols, Tom Stallard
University of Liverpool
Richard Holme
University of Oxford
Neil Bowles, Leigh Fletcher, Pat Irwin
University of Reading
Matt Owens
1.13 United States of America
Boston University
Supriya Chakrabarti, Luke Moore
Cornell University
Don Banfield, Matt Hedman, Matthew Tiscareno, Phil Nicholson
Georgia Tech
Carol Paty
Gordon College
Richard W. Schmude, Jr.
Johns Hopkins University-APL
Pontus Brandt, Andrew Cheng, Chris Paranicas, Abigail M Rymer, H. Todd Smith, Elizabeth P Turtle
LPI, University of Arizona
Robert H Brown, Paul Schenk
NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre
Carrie M Anderson, Matt Burger, Glyn Collinson, John F Cooper, Brigette Hesman, Edward C Sittler
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Kevin Baines, A. Jim Friedson , Mark Hofstadter, Conor Nixon, Jim Norwood, Glenn Orton, Robert T Pappalardo, Ed Smith
New Mexico State University
Reta Beebe, Nancy Chanover
Rice University
Tom Hill
SETI Institute
Mark Showalter
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio
Scott Bolton, Mihir Desai, Dave McComas, Prachet Mokashi, Daniel Santos-Costa
Space Science Institute (Boulder)
Julianne Moses
University of California, Berkeley
Imke de Pater
University of California Los Angeles
Jerry Schubert, Ravit Helled, Chris Russell, Krishan Khurana, Margaret Kivelson, Kunio Sayanagi
University of California Santa Cruz
Jonathan Fortney
University of Colorado, Boulder
Sébastien Hess, Rob Wilson
University of Iowa
Jared Leisner, William Kurth, Patricia Schippers, Ulrich Taubenschuss
Washington University
Bill McKinnon
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Arridge, C.S., Agnor, C.B., André, N. et al. Uranus Pathfinder: exploring the origins and evolution of Ice Giant planets. Exp Astron 33, 753–791 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-011-9251-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-011-9251-4