Abstract
Other papers in this special issue have discussed the diversity of planetary atmospheres and some of the key science questions for giant planet atmospheres to be addressed in the future. There are crucial measurements that can only be made by orbiters of giant planets and probes dropped into their atmospheres. To help the community be more effective developers of missions and users of data products, we summarize how NASA and ESA categorize their planetary space missions, and the restrictions and requirements placed on each category. We then discuss the atmospheric goals to be addressed by currently approved giant-planet missions as well as missions likely to be considered in the next few years, such as a joint NASA/ESA Ice Giant orbiter with atmospheric probe. Our focus is on interplanetary spacecraft, but we acknowledge the crucial role to be played by ground-based and near-Earth telescopes, as well as theoretical and laboratory work.
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Acknowledgements
Fletcher was supported by a Royal Society Research Fellowship and European Research Council Consolidator Grant (under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, grant agreement No 723890) at the University of Leicester. Masters was supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. Hofstadter’s work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
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Understanding the Diversity of Planetary Atmospheres
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Hofstadter, M.D., Fletcher, L.N., Simon, A.A. et al. Future Missions to the Giant Planets that Can Advance Atmospheric Science Objectives. Space Sci Rev 216, 91 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00710-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00710-w