The Deep Composition of Uranus and Neptune from In Situ Exploration and Thermochemical Modeling

2020/04/29 by Thibault Cavalié, Olivia Venot, Yamila Miguel +7
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Galilean moons #High-pressure geophysics and materials #In situ #Jovian #Jupiter (rocket family) #Neptune #Planet #Planetary Science and Exploration #Planetary science #Solar System #Uranus #astro-ph.EP #astro-ph.IM

paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s11214-020-00677-8

Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews

arxiv created 2020/04/29 · openalex created_date 2020/05/13 · openalex publication_date 2020/05/18 · arxiv updated 2020/05/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

The distant ice giants of the Solar System, Uranus and Neptune, have only been visited by one space mission, Voyager 2. The current knowledge on their composition remains very limited despite some recent advances. A better characterization of their composition is however essential to constrain their formation and evolution, as a significant fraction of their mass is made of heavy elements, contrary to the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn. An in situ probe like Galileo would provide us with invaluable direct ground-truth composition measurements. However, some of the condensibles will remain out of the grasp of a shallow probe. While additional constraints could be obtained from a complementary orbiter, thermochemistry and diffusion modeling can further help us to increase the science return of an in situ probe.

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