NASA’s priority list.Uranus is some 1,800,000,000 miles from the Sun, and apart from a brief fly-by from the Voyager 2 probe in the 1980s remains largely unexplored.The next opportunity for a fast-track mission to the mysterious planet would be in the 2030s, when the planets line up neatly for a slingshot to the outer solar system.Mark Hofstadter, a planetary scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said that the 2030 window would be “the right time to launch”, adding “we don’t want to miss this one.” But that may be too soon for NASA.There’s another problem too.
People still find the planet’s name too funny.“I’m sorry I’m saying this,” says Heidi Hammel, a planetary astronomer and executive vice-president of the.
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