An L-class Multirole Observatory and Science Platform for Neptune

James McKevitt; Sophie Bulla; Tom Dixon; Franco Criscola; Jonathan Parkinson-Swift; Christina Bornberg; Jaspreet Singh; Kuren Patel; Aryan Laad; Ethan Forder; Louis Ayin-Walsh; Shayne Beegadhur; Paul Wedde; Bharath Simha Reddy Pappula; Thomas McDougall; Madalin Foghis; Jack Kent; James Morgan; Utkarsh Raj; Carina Heinreichsberger

arXiv · 2106.09409

An L-class Multirole Observatory and Science Platform for Neptune

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Abstract

A coming resurgence of super heavy-lift launch vehicles has precipitated an immense interest in the future of crewed spaceflight and even future colonisation efforts. While it is true that a bright future awaits this sector, driven by commercial ventures and the reignited interest of old space-faring nations, and the joining of new ones, little of this attention has been reserved for the science-centric applications of these launchers. The Arcanum mission is a proposal to use these vehicles to deliver an L-class observatory into a highly eccentric orbit around Neptune, with a wide-ranging suite of science goals and instrumentation tackling Solar System science, planetary science, Kuiper Belt Objects and exoplanet systems.

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James McKevitt, Sophie Bulla, Tom Dixon, Franco Criscola, Jonathan Parkinson-Swift, Christina Bornberg, Jaspreet Singh, Kuren Patel, Aryan Laad, Ethan Forder, Louis Ayin-Walsh, Shayne Beegadhur, Paul Wedde, Bharath Simha Reddy Pappula, Thomas McDougall, Madalin Foghis, Jack Kent, James Morgan, Utkarsh Raj, Carina Heinreichsberger. 2021-06-17. An L-class Multirole Observatory and Science Platform for Neptune. https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.09409

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