SmallSats for Visiting the Sun’s Outer Planets and Searching for the Nearest Earthlike Exoplanets

Uranus and Neptune are the least-studied major planets in our Solar System, with the only in-situ data having been obtained by Voyager 2, which was launched more than 40 years ago. During future visits, modern instrumentation on small sub-satellite could substantially increase our knowledge of one or both of these ice giants.

Alpha Centauri A and B are by far the closest sunlike stars, and their proximity allows for the imaging of hypothetical Earth-analogs with much smaller telescopes than are needed for similar planets around more distant stars. Such studies may reveal potentially habitable exoplanets that would be far easier to study both remotely and eventually in situ than their more distant cousins. Moreover, these spacecraft could test technologies for high-contrast imaging systems being developed for far larger and more costly space telescopes.