Download The Summer School Alpbach 2012 student mission concepts

The Summer School Alpbach 2012 student mission concepts
 iTOUR: Investigative Tour Of Uranus:
The iTOUR concept foresees an orbiting mission with two satellites, a 18 year
transfer orbiter mission to explore the atmospheric structure and interior of
Uranus with an additional orbiter to study the time variation and large scale
structure of the Uranian magnetosphere. A part of the mission is dedicated to
study the moons and rings of the Uranus system. Mission objectives include
the observation of the atmosphere, magnetosphere, the ring system and the
five main satellites. The exploration of the magnetosphere and atmosphere is
of special interest for iTOUR. The mission includes two orbiters which will
make two point measurements possible.
Orange Team: Fabian Duschel, Ingo Gerth, Myrtha Hässig, Kevin Hayes,
Kostas Konstantinidis, Piotr Lewkowicz, Jane Mac Arthur, Pedro Machado,
Christian Nabert, Jean-Baptiste Ruffio, Joan Stude, Claudia Terhes, Nathalie
Themessl, Jorge Vicent Severa, Mingyu Wu.
Oscars for the best science case and the best presentation:
The Jury appreciated the excellent review of the current state of knowledge
of the Uranian system and the clear exposition of the questions to be
answered by the first comprehensive orbiter mission. The Jury
acknowledged the very thorough set of scientific objectives with respect to
the open questions, the clear identification and traceability of the
scientific requirements and measurements to be made. The Jury
appreciated the excellent quality of the report and of the oral presentation
in terms of its organization, quality of visuals, confidence of presenters,
professionalism of the whole team in answering the questions,
appreciation and identification of the outreach and educational potential
mission, good humour and gender awareness (female presenter).
 NeTE – The Neptune Triton Explorer:
NeTE: is a, 22 year transfer, orbiter mission to investigate the atmosphere and
meteorology of Neptune. Trough close passes of the orbiter the knowledge of
the internal structure and the gravity field will be increased. The mission
includes also an atmospheric entry probe (“Hypate”) to study the composition
of the deeper atmosphere and thus get more information on the origin of the
planet. An additional impact probe is dedicated to obtain information on the
moon Triton. NeTE will be dedicated to explore the Neptunian system and
answer many of the questions left open by the Voyager 2 flyby mission in
1989, the only spacecraft that has visited this system until today. NeTE will
characterize Neptune as an archetype of an icy giant. NeTE will shine new light
on solar system formation models and will provide detailed constraints on the
formation of icy giants NeTE will improve the understanding of the planetary
environment of Neptune.
Red Team: Solmaz Adeli, Markus Artz, Tatiana Bocanegra Bahamon, Vincent
Bonnin, Colm Bracken, Alexander Broberg Skeltved, Christoph Burger,
Alejandro Cardesin Moinelo, Elie Dawidowicz, Roman Ferstl, Madeleine
Holmberg, Alexander Hygate, Christos Labrianidis, Katalin Lukuacs, Alberto
Nardin
Oscar for the best technical case
The Jury appreciated the excellent understanding and analysis of the
system showing the trade-off tree of different technical solutions to meet
the objectives of the awareness of the technical challenges presented by
the mission and the impressive presentation of the orbit analysis.

Poseidon-Trident: Mission to the Neptunian System
Poseidon-Trident is a light weight mission to explore the Neptunian system on
a flyby trajectory. This mission was designed as a, 13 year transfer, Neptun
and Triton Fly-By after a trade-off study between science-return and mission
duration. It investigates the Neptune gravity field and interior and also the
atmospheric composition through the “Trident” entry probe. This probe is
released into Neptune's atmosphere to gather compositional data up to 80
bars, deep enough to observe below all expected cloud layers. A general
observation package will measure the particle/plasma/field environment
during the majority of the mission. Imaging instruments from UV to IR will
provide context and general information. A mission objective is also to
provide “ground-truth” for earth based observations. It will pass also close
over the surface of the Triton moon before leaving the system to go on
eventually to visit Kuiper Belt Objects. A comparison of Triton and Pluto will
provide insight about Kuiper Belt Objects (KBO) and shed light on the origin of
Triton.
Blue Team: Maria Andriopoulou, Silas Boye Nissen, Ursina Maria Calmonte,
Javier Carracso Cruz, Cristina de Persis, Dominic Dirkx, Jamie Jasinski,
Matthieu Laneuville, Yanwei Li, Jesper Lindkvist, Armin Luntzer, Marzia Parisi,
Renaud Sallantin, Reinhard Tlustos, Christof Weber
Oscar for the most competitive mission
The Jury appreciated the highly competitive and bold approach to a first
European-led mission to Neptune in terms of financial affordability, the
good justification for a flyby mission based on a sound compromise
between science objectives, technical feasibility and mission duration. The
Jury acknowledged the addressing of the complementarity with groundbased observations and future missions to giant planets.
 USE – Uranus System Explorer:
The purpose of the Uranus System Explorer mission is to investigate the
Uranus planetary system and establish links in planetary evolution and
formation of icy giants that will be applicable in the ongoing research of
exoplanets. An entry probe will provide information on the composition of the
deeper atmosphere. A specific mission phase will be dedicated to the
observation of the moons and rings of Uranus. USE space mission will allow
fundamental measurements which will help explain the dynamics of this
system such as planetary composition, magnetic field measurements, thermal
measurements and deep atmosphere composition and dynamics and relate
these measurements to conditions on Earth and other space environments.
Green Team: Costa Sitja M., Feng J., Gasc S., Hilbig T., Johnson C., Lisboa F.
B., Maier A., Morosan D. E., Morschhauser A., Nordheim T., Norgren C.,
Oliveira J., Provinciali L., Salvador L.
Head Tutor Award for the best detailed analysis of the implication on
the mission of carrying out the measurements of gravitational
moments.
The Jury found that with the mounting evidence that icy giants represent an
important population of planets, it becomes of central importance to
understand the internal structure and composition. In this respect, the icy
planets of our own solar system are of special importance since they are
the only one allowing detailed in-situ measurements. In particular, the
ratio between iron, rocks, ices andH/He and other nobel gases will provide
important constraints on the formation mechanisms of this particular type
of planets.
The Alpbach Jury 2012
Jury Chairman: Roger Bonnet, ISSI
Jury Members:
Willi Benz, Switzerland
Jean-Pierre Lebreton, ESA
Harald Posch, FFG, Chairman of Programme Committee
Helmut O. Rucker, Space Research Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
Karoly Szego, Europlanet
Monica Talevi, ESA Education Office
Peter Falkner, Head Tutor (without voting right)
Andre Balogh, Scientific coordinator (without voting right)