Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Moomaw on Argo presentation

As far as I can tell, the only change since March is that the plan to fly by a Jovian Trojan has been cut out -- although flying by Jupiter (along with Saturn) also lops a lot off the total mission time (13-15 years to reach a big KBO, instead of 19-21 years, with the launch still being in 2019). They recognize that both the development schedule and the proximity to the New Frontiers upper cost cap are tight.

The flyby of Jupiter would be distant -- well beyond Callisto's orbit -- but the flyby of Saturn would be close enough that they might be able to squeeze in a flyby of Enceladus, for whatever that's worth.

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