While our Earth is getting sicker and scientists estimate that we have less and less time left to reverse the trend, others already have their heads towards the stars. While space missions – manned or not – should multiply in the coming years, one of them should focus on a planet hitherto unexplored, to the point of becoming the “top priority” from NASA.
After Mars, a new planet to explore first
Is there anything more mysterious than the universe? This is infinite it is already full of mysteries, unexplained phenomena and unexplored places, although we only know a small part of it. Astronauts, astronomers, researchers, scientists… All work hard to try to unravel the mysteries of space and the universe, but it is a long-term job that will in reality only take never end.
Even our solar system is still largely unknown to us. Proof of this is that we are far from having explored every corner of it and we know almost nothing about certain planets. While Mars appears to be the next goal for ambitious scientists and billionaires, the American Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is looking even further afield and now calls on NASA, through a new report, to make Uranus its top priority (top priority).
Seventh furthest planet from our Sun, Uranus lies at the edge of our solar system, about 2.7 billion kilometers from us. Discovered in 1781 by British astronomer William Herschel, it is an ice giant which, contrary to what we imagine, has rings. It has only been observed once, in 1986, when the Voyager 2 probe passed “close”.
The idea would therefore be to send a new probe during the decade 2023-2032, but which this time would remain in orbit around the planet.
Extraterrestrial life on Uranus?
This mission would actually be the implementation ofa project envisioned more than a decade ago, in a previous Academy report: Uranus Orbiter and Probe. Considered at the time as a priority “mean”, it had been abandoned in favor of the red planet. However, Uranus is full of mysteries and would be extremely interesting to study more closely: its atmosphere, its particularly leaning axis of rotation, or its moons are among the most intriguing elements.
Besides, a moon of the planet Saturn, Enceladus, has also been defined as one of the priorities to follow for NASA over the next decade. And for good reason: it would have, like Uranus under its ice,an ocean world that could support life. Volcanic chimneys would indeed be found at the bottom of the oceans and would potentially allow entire ecosystems to develop and survive by providing them with the nutrients essential to their survival.
If this idea is particularly exciting, be careful not to get too carried away. First, there is no guarantee that extraterrestrial life will actually be found on Uranus or more or less similar moons. And if life there is, it would obviously be microbial life, far from the little green men that some already imagine. Finally, we will have to be patient with our troubles: the project has 10 years to see the light of day and the journey itself would last more than a decade. Suffice to say that we are not ready to discover more about Uranus.