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Neptune has been directly explored by one space probe, Voyager 2, in 1989. As of December 2022, there are no confirmed future missions to visit the Neptunian system, although a tentative Chinese mission has been planned for launch in 2024. NASA, ESA, and independent academic groups have proposed future scientific missions to visit Neptune. Some mission plans are still active, while others have been abandoned or put on hold.
DAVINCI is a planned mission for an orbiter and atmospheric probe to the planet Venus. Together with the VERITAS mission, which will also study Venus, it was selected by NASA on 2 June 2021 to be part of their Discovery Program.
OCEANUS is a mission concept conceived in 2016 and presented in 2017 as a potential future contestant as a New Frontiers program mission to the planet Uranus. The concept was developed by the Astronautical engineering students of Purdue University during the 2017 NASA/JPL Planetary Science Summer School. OCEANUS is an orbiter, which would enable a detailed study of the structure of the planet's magnetosphere and interior structure that would not be possible with a flyby mission.
References
- ↑ Brabaw, Kasandra (February 18, 2015). "Tiny Microprobes Could Explore Jupiter's Atmosphere By 2030". Space.com. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
- ↑ Pop, Sebastian (January 27, 2015). "A Swarm of Microprobes Preparing for Launch to Jupiter". Softpedia News.
- 1 2 "Swarm of microprobes to head for Jupiter". ScienceDaily. January 26, 2015. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
- ↑ "Swarm of microprobes to head for Jupiter". EurekAlert!. January 26, 2015. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
- ↑ Bednar, Chuck (January 27, 2015). "Studying Jupiter's atmosphere with cube satellites". RedOrbit.
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