Calay News
The scientific community in the United States has wondered which planets in the Solar System have not yet been explored and has come to the conclusion that the planet Uranus is one of the least known. Uranus is located in the outer reaches of the Solar System, after the asteroid belt, and has been visited only by one of the Voyager space probes more than 30 years ago. Scientists believe that Uranus is interesting because it is the most unknown planet in our solar system and is four times larger than Earth. It also has unique characteristics, such as the fact that it rotates in the opposite direction from the rest of the planets and that its winter lasts 21 Earth years with temperatures as low as minus 220 degrees Celsius.
The US National Academy of Sciences has set as a priority for NASA a mission to Uranus to be executed in 2024. The mission will consist of two space probes that will explore this unknown world in the Solar System. The budget for the mission is more than $2 billion, and scientists claim that this mission will be the one that generates the most scientific knowledge. The mission may shed light on the origin and evolution of the solar system as well as explain the phenomena that occur only on the mysterious planet Uranus.
The idea is that one of the probes will penetrate the atmosphere of Uranus while the other stays in its orbital environs. Reaching Uranus will not be easy since it is 3 billion kilometers away, which would take 12 to 15 years of travel with current technology. Still, scientists hope the mission will provide answers to important questions about Uranus, such as the reasons for its current position and reverse rotation and whether there is an ocean capable of supporting life beneath the ice crust that covers the surface of one of its moons.
