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From: eugene@ames.UUCP (Eugene Miya)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: Voyager, on to Uranus.
Message-ID: <1051@ames.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 22-Jul-85 16:02:03 EDT
Article-I.D.: ames.1051
Posted: Mon Jul 22 16:02:03 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 25-Jul-85 07:34:08 EDT
References: <1792@aecom.UUCP>, <38@escher.UUCP> <5803@utzoo.UUCP>
Organization: NASA-Ames Research Center, Mtn. View, CA
Lines: 25

> There is one such uncertainty, associated with the 1989 Neptune encounter
> rather than the Uranus encounter:  nobody knows whether Neptune has rings
> or not.  There is some evidence that it might.  The trajectory tentatively
> planned for the Neptune encounter may have to be revised, because if the
> ring reports are true, the trajectory takes Voyager straight into them.
> 
> Going to a more conservative trajectory would be a pity, because the Neptune
> encounter (unlike the Uranus one) is not constrained by the need to reach
> the next planet, and the planned path includes a very close flyby of Triton.
> -- 
> 				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
> 				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry

There are many uncertainies.  Most are not visible to the naked eye:
radiation belts, large magnetic anomalies from satellites, gravitational
anomalies, intermediate swarms of astroids at a distance we cannot detect.
Some experiements such as the radio astronomy experiments must take place
on the lee side of the planet in order to get some idea which the upper
atmospheres are like.  Too bad the original Grand Tour mission was not
approved.

--eugene miya
  NASA Ames Research Center
  {hplabs,ihnp4,dual,hao,decwrl,allegra}!ames!aurora!eugene
  @ames-vmsb.ARPA:emiya@jup.DECNET