Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

ODINUS

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Mission type
  
Orbiter

Dry mass
  
500-600 kg

Spacecraft component
  
Freyja

Operator
  
European Space Agency

Launch date
  
2034 (proposed)

ODINUS

Website
  
http://odinus.iaps.inaf.it/

ODINUS (Origins, Dynamics, and Interiors of the Neptunian and Uranian Systems) is a space mission concept proposed to the European Space Agency's Cosmic Vision programme, consisting on two twin spacecraft. The ODINUS mission concept proposes to expand the Uranus orbiter and probe mission to twin orbiters— dubbed Freyr and Freyja, the twin gods of the Norse pantheon. Their primary mission would be to study Neptune and Uranus with one orbiter each. If selected ODINUS would launch in 2034.

Instruments

The following six instruments are considered essential to the mission:

  • Camera (Wide and Narrow Angle) - Designed to image the planet at the same level of detail as missions to the two gas giants have provided.
  • VIS-NIR Image Spectrometer
  • Magnetometer - To study the magnetic fields of Neptune.
  • Mass Spectrometer (Ions and Neutrals, INMS)
  • Doppler Spectro-Imager - To take seismic measurements.
  • Microwave Radiometer

    • The following two additional instruments are strongly desired by the mission proposers:

  • Energetic Neutral Atoms Detector - To complement the measurements of the INMS.
  • High-sensitivity Accelerometer - To be used in the atmospheric descent phase.

    • References

    ODINUS Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA