this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2024
227 points (99.6% liked)
science
14709 readers
125 users here now
just science related topics. please contribute
note: clickbait sources/headlines aren't liked generally. I've posted crap sources and later deleted or edit to improve after complaints. whoops, sry
Rule 1) Be kind.
lemmy.world rules: https://mastodon.world/about
I don't screen everything, lrn2scroll
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Maybe I could have been more explicit. Without the planetary alignment that made the voyager probes possible an equivalent mission would be ridiculously expensive/impossible due to the fuel requirements (and wouldn't be able to visit all of the planets)
If starship/new glen/the rocket lab one work, it might become more feasible.
Instead, sending smaller, simpler probes that just visit one planet/moon would be much more cost effective, but still expensive.
We have already got a lot of the low hanging planetary science fruit from existing missions. New missions would need new/novel sensors or need Landers/aircraft which make them much more expensive.
Even just a 'standard' interplanetary mission isn't just an out of the box job like current earth satalites are becoming.