http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0406/02neptune/
Boeing to study Neptune missions for
NASA
BOEING NEWS RELEASE
Posted: June 2, 2004
While
Boeing is preparing to deliver a proposal to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
for what could become the nation's first nuclear-fission powered exploration
spacecraft, the company also is using its unique space heritage and expertise to
propel robotic solar system exploration farther than Jupiter.
NASA
recently granted Boeing $250,000 to provide a technology development road map
for supporting science objectives for a mission to Neptune under its Vision
Missions studies program. Boeing, the only industrial entity to receive such a
grant, is providing mission design solutions for a possible Neptune polar
orbiter with atmospheric probes.
<snip>
Like the gas giants Saturn and Jupiter,
Neptune has no solid surface, and scientists believe further research of the
planet's external and internal structures could yield greater insight into the
processes that formed the solar system.
The Neptune Orbiter with Probes study
will explore technological capabilities that would make a 21ST century
second-decade flagship launch feasible and provide an assessment of
nuclear-electric propulsion as a potential power source for the
spacecraft. Dr. David Atkinson of the University of Idaho is the
science principal investigator.
<snip>
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.....odd that the Neptune
Orbiter with Probes concept makes no mention of an investigation of Neptune's
moon Triton -- in size (2,707km diam.) about 22% smaller than Earth's moon, but
observed by the Voyager 2 probe to be geologically active, with nitrogen gas and
methane-ammonia-ice 'cryovolcanoes' and a thin nitrogen atmosphere (about 14
microbars)....
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Nep_Triton
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/images/inset-nep_triton-large.jpg
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-neptune.html
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/solar_system/planets/neptune_index.html
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Neptune&Display=Overview
http://geologyindy.byu.edu/ePlanet/chapter_12.htm
http://geologyindy.byu.edu/ePlanet/images/Ch%2012/Triton-fig-12.13.jpg