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Mission concepts to the outer solar system are relatively common, as planetary scientists are increasingly frustrated by our lack of knowledge of the farthest planets. Neptune, the farthest known planet, was last visited by Voyager 2 in the 1980s. Technologies have advanced a lot since that probe was launched in 1977. But to utilize that better technology, we first need to have a mission arrive in the system \u2013 and one such mission is being developed over a series of papers by ConEx Research and University College London.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The Arcanum mission is designed to orbit Neptune and land on Triton, giving insight into both objects of interest in the system. Neptune has some of the highest winds in the solar system and the \u201cGreat Dark Spot\u201d storm system. Triton is even more interesting, with potential active volcanism and possibly a subsurface ocean.<\/p>\n Given the different requirements to study both the planet and moon, Arcanum is split into three distinct parts \u2013 an orbiter, an \u201corbital maneuverer,\u201d and a lander. Let\u2019s take a look at each one in turn.<\/p>\n \n