NASA has been ignoring Uranus. That may soon change.
The ice giant could represent the galaxy’s most common type of planet, but we know very little about it. Now scientists have declared that seeing the world up-close is a top priority.
But beyond a handful of intriguing facts, scientists know woefully little about this milky blue world, which was visited for the first and only time by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986. That could be about to change.
One big draw is that Uranus—and Neptune, the solar system’s other ice giant—might be representative of the most common type of planet in the galaxy. Scientists think that solving the mysteries of Uranus, such as its odd magnetic field, shrouded interior structure, and surprisingly frosty temperatures, could be crucial not only for understanding ice giants across the Milky Way, but also for unlocking clues about the history of our solar system.
The proposed mission, called the Uranus Orbiter and Probe, would release
