A Trip to Triton through Trident!
- Maahin R.
- Jun 20, 2020
- 3 min read
Neptune, the Solar system’s farthest planet from the Sun has a total of 14 known moons. One of them is Triton, named after the son of Poseidon is the largest one among them. There are so many things unique about this moon. To name one of them, it has an orbit that is opposite in direction to the direction of rotation of the planet itself. This type of behaviour called the Retrogade orbit can be seen in other smaller and outer moons of Jupiter and Saturn but Triton being the largest and most significant moon of Neptune definitely turns a few heads. Another unique quirk of Triton captured by NASA’s Voyager 2 when it flew past Triton on August 25, 1989 shows us that the surface of the moon is covered in a thin sheet of nitrogen ice. Another important characteristic I want to add to this already breathtaking list is that Triton reflects 70% of the sunlight that reaches it. To give you a perspecitve of how significant this is, our own Moon reflects only 11% of the sunlight. This arises due to the fact that Triton is one of the coolest celestial bodies in our Solar System being so far away from the Sun. Now that I have introduced you to the many mysteries Triton holds, let’s get back to the topic in hand that is NASA’s mission to Triton.
This particular mission, Trident named after the three-pronged spear of Poseidon has been justly named. This concept proposed in 2019 as part of NASA’s ongoing Discovery program aims to study the outer planets in out Solar System and the main focus being Triton. One of the main characterics of Triton’s surface unearthed by Voyager 2’s flyby was the presence of several cryovolcanoes on it’s surface making it geologically active. As astounding as it sounds, the data sent in by Voyager 2 32 years ago covers only 40% of the moon’s surface rest of which is to be mapped by Trident.
What does NASA aim to get out of the Trident mission?
Well as I mentioned earlier, Trident aims to map the rest of the moon's surface previously attempted by Voyager 2. This could be achieved with the help of some of the most advanced onboard high- resolution imaging equipments and Triton's incredible reflective surface would only make this job easier for us. Trident's plan is to travel 500 kilometers above the Triton's surface thereby entering the moon's atmosphere. This would enable us to sample essential data from the Ionosphere with the help of a Plasma Spectrometer. The onboard equipments would also help us to explore the possibilities of Triton being an ocean world. So in a way, we could say that the most important goal for Trident at the end of the day is to find whether Triton could potentially harbour/ sustain life. Another incredible observation made from the captures of Voyager 2 was the presence of cryovolcanoes as mentioned earlier. It also revealed the presence of very few craters which suggests that the surface of this moon is very young. A Cryovolcano is a type of volcano that spurts out volatile group of chemical elements and compounds such as water, ammonia, carbon dioxide and nitrogen as opposed to the traditional lava eruption by normal volcanoes. This suggests that Triton is geologically active and scientists are interested in discovering this exact plume activity.
So when can we expect this mission to kick off?
October 2025 has been proposed as the launch date for this mission. The reason for zeroing in on this particular year is that it would take 13 years for Trident to reach Triton which means that we would have to expect it at around 2038 but this could be possible only if we could sligshot around Jupiter. Here is where 2025 comes into picture. Launching in October 2025 would mean that the spacecraft would reach Jupiter around 2038 and this is a special year because Earth would be perfectly aligned with Jupiter allowing the spacecraft to use the gravitational pull of Jupiter to slingshot around it and head towards Triton. This has been successfully demonstrated once before by the New Horizons back in 2006.
I would like to end on a positive note by saying that various exciting things await us in the future and I, for one, can't be more excited.
EXPLORING TRITON WITH TRIDENT: A DISCOVERY-CLASS MISSION: L. M. Prockter, K. L. Mitchell, C. J. A. Howett, W. D. Smythe, B. M. Sutin, D. A. Bearden, W. E. Frazier, and the Trident Team.
IMPLEMENTATION OF TRIDENT: A DISCOVERY-CLASS MISSION TO TRITON: K. L. Mitchell, L. M. Prockter, W. E. Frazier, W. D. Smythe, B. M. Sutin, D. A. Bearden, and the Trident Team.
This article was based on information provided by The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
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