Plasma Observations Near Uranus: Initial Results from Voyager 2

Plasma Environment, Radiation, Structure, and Evolution of the Uranian System (PERSEUS): A Dedicated Orbiter Mission Concept to Study Space Physics at Uranus

The Plasma Environment, Radiation, Structure, and Evolution of the Uranian System (PERSEUS) mission concept defines the feasibility and potential scope of a dedicated, standalone Heliophysics orbiter mission to study multiple space physics science objectives at Uranus. Uranus's complex and dynamic magnetosphere presents a unique laboratory to study magnetospheric physics as well as its coupling to the solar wind and the planet's atmosphere, satellites, and rings. From the planet's tilted and offset, rapidly-rotating non-dipolar magnetic field to its seasonally-extreme interactions with the solar wind to its unexpectedly intense electron radiation belts, Uranus hosts a range of outstanding and compelling mysteries relevant to the space physics community. While the exploration of planets other than Earth has largely fallen within the purview of NASA's Planetary Science Division, many targets, like Uranus, also hold immense scientific value and interest to NASA's Heliophysics Division. Exploring and understanding Uranus's magnetosphere is critical to make fundamental gains in magnetospheric physics and the understanding of potential exoplanetary systems and to test the validity of our knowledge of magnetospheric dynamics, moon-magnetosphere interactions, magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, and solar wind-planetary coupling. The PERSEUS mission concept study, currently at Concept Maturity Level (CML) 4, comprises a feasible payload that provides closure to a range of space physics science objectives in a reliable and mature spacecraft and mission design architecture. The mission is able to close using only a single Mod-1 Next-Generation Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (NG-RTG) by leveraging a concept of operations that relies of a significant hibernation mode for a large portion of its 22-day orbit.

In Search of Subsurface Oceans Within the Uranian Moons

The Galileo mission to Jupiter discovered magnetic signatures associated with hidden subsurface oceans at the moons Europa and Callisto using the phenomenon of magnetic induction. These induced magnetic fields originate from electrically conductive layers within the moons and are driven by Jupiter's strong time-varying magnetic field. The ice giants and their moons are also ideal laboratories for magnetic induction studies. Both Uranus and Neptune have a strongly tilted magnetic axis with respect to their spin axis, creating a dynamic and strongly variable magnetic field environment at the orbits of their major moons. Although Voyager 2 visited the ice giants in the 1980s, it did not pass close enough to any of the moons to detect magnetic induction signatures. However, Voyager 2 revealed that some of these moons exhibit surface features that hint at recent geologically activity, possibly associated with subsurface oceans. Future missions to the ice giants may therefore be capable of discovering subsurface oceans, thereby adding to the family of known "ocean worlds" in our Solar System. Here, we assess magnetic induction as a technique for investigating subsurface oceans within the major moons of Uranus. Furthermore, we establish the ability to distinguish induction responses created by different interior characteristics that tie into the induction response: ocean thickness, conductivity and depth, and ionospheric conductance. The results reported here demonstrate the possibility of single-pass ocean detection and constrained characterization within the moons of Miranda, Ariel, and Umbriel, and provide guidance for magnetometer selection and trajectory design for future missions to Uranus.

In Search of Subsurface Oceans Within the Uranian Moons

The Galileo mission to Jupiter discovered magnetic signatures associated with hidden subsurface oceans at the moons Europa and Callisto using the phenomenon of magnetic induction. These induced magnetic fields originate from electrically conductive layers within the moons and are driven by Jupiter's strong time-varying magnetic field. The ice giants and their moons are also ideal laboratories for magnetic induction studies. Both Uranus and Neptune have a strongly tilted magnetic axis with respect to their spin axis, creating a dynamic and strongly variable magnetic field environment at the orbits of their major moons. Although Voyager 2 visited the ice giants in the 1980s, it did not pass close enough to any of the moons to detect magnetic induction signatures. However, Voyager 2 revealed that some of these moons exhibit surface features that hint at recent geologically activity, possibly associated with subsurface oceans. Future missions to the ice giants may therefore be capable of discovering subsurface oceans, thereby adding to the family of known "ocean worlds" in our Solar System. Here, we assess magnetic induction as a technique for investigating subsurface oceans within the major moons of Uranus. Furthermore, we establish the ability to distinguish induction responses created by different interior characteristics that tie into the induction response: ocean thickness, conductivity and depth, and ionospheric conductance. The results reported here demonstrate the possibility of single-pass ocean detection and constrained characterization within the moons of Miranda, Ariel, and Umbriel, and provide guidance for magnetometer selection and trajectory design for future missions to Uranus.

Ice giant magnetospheres

The ice giant planets provide some of the most interesting natural laboratories for studying the influence of large obliquities, rapid rotation, highly asymmetric magnetic fields and wide-ranging Alfvénic and sonic Mach numbers on magnetospheric processes. The geometries of the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction at the ice giants vary dramatically on diurnal timescales due to the large tilt of the magnetic axis relative to each planet's rotational axis and the apparent off-centred nature of the magnetic field. There is also a seasonal effect on this interaction geometry due to the large obliquity of each planet (especially Uranus). With in situ observations at Uranus and Neptune limited to a single encounter by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, a growing number of analytical and numerical models have been put forward to characterize these unique magnetospheres and test hypotheses related to the magnetic structures and the distribution of plasma observed. Yet many questions regarding magnetospheric structure and dynamics, magnetospheric coupling to the ionosphere and atmosphere, and potential interactions with orbiting satellites remain unanswered. Continuing to study and explore ice giant magnetospheres is important for comparative planetology as they represent critical benchmarks on a broad spectrum of planetary magnetospheric interactions, and provide insight beyond the scope of our own Solar System with implications for exoplanet magnetospheres and magnetic reversals. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Future exploration of ice giant systems'.

The magnetosphere of uranus: hot plasma and radiation environment

The low-energy charged-particle (LECP) instrument on Voyager 2 measured lowenergy electrons and ions near and within the magnetosphere of Uranus. Initial analysis of the LECP measurements has revealed the following. (i) The magnetospheric particle population consists principally of protons and electrons having energies to at least 4 and 1.2 megaelectron volts, respectively, with electron intensities substantially excceding proton intensities at a given energy. (ii) The intensity profile for both particle species shows evidence that the particles were swept by planetry satellites out to at least the orbit of Titania. (iii) The ion and electron spectra may be described by a Maxwellian core at low energies (less than about 200 kiloelectron volts) and a power law at high energies (greater than about 590 kiloelectron volts; exponentmicro, 3 to 10) except inside the orbit of Miranda, where power-law spectra (micro approximately 1.1 and 3.1 for electrons and protons, respectively) are observed. (iv) At ion energies between 0.6 and 1 megaelectron volt per nucleon, the composition is dominated by protons with a minor fraction (about 10(-3)) of molecular hydrogen; the lower limit for the ratio of hydrogen to helium is greater than 10(4). (v) The proton population is sufficiently intense that fluences greater than 10(16) per square centimeter can accumulate in 10(4) to 10(') years; such fluences are sufficient to polymerize carbon monoxide and methane ice surfaces. The overall morphology of Uranus' magnetosphere resembles that of Jupiter, as evidenced by the fact that the spacecraft crossed the plasma sheet through the dawn magnetosheath twice per planetary rotation period (17.3 hours). Uranus' magnetosphere differs from that of Jupiter and of Saturn in that the plasma 1 is at most 0.1 rather than 1. Therefore, little distortion ofthe field is expected from particle loading at distances less than about 15 Uranus radii.

Magnetic fields at uranus

The magnetic field experiment on the Voyager 2 spacecraft revealed a strong planetary magnetic field of Uranus and an associated magnetosphere and fully developed bipolar masnetic tail. The detached bow shock wave in the solar wind supersonic flow was observed upstream at 23.7 Uranus radii (1 R(U) = 25,600 km) and the magnetopause boundary at 18.0 R(U), near the planet-sun line. A miaximum magnetic field of 413 nanotesla was observed at 4.19 R(U ), just before closest approach. Initial analyses reveal that the planetary magnetic field is well represented by that of a dipole offset from the center of the planet by 0.3 R(U). The angle between Uranus' angular momentum vector and the dipole moment vector has the surprisingly large value of 60 degrees. Thus, in an astrophysical context, the field of Uranus may be described as that of an oblique rotator. The dipole moment of 0.23 gauss R(3)(U), combined with the large spatial offset, leads to minimum and maximum magnetic fields on the surface of the planet of approximately 0.1 and 1.1 gauss, respectively. The rotation period of the magnetic field and hence that of the interior of the planet is estimated to be 17.29+/- 0.10 hours; the magnetotail rotates about the planet-sun line with the same period. Thelarge offset and tilt lead to auroral zones far from the planetary rotation axis poles. The rings and the moons are embedded deep within the magnetosphere, and, because of the large dipole tilt, they will have a profound and diurnally varying influence as absorbers of the trapped radiation belt particles.

First Plasma Wave Observations at Uranus

Radio emissions from Uranus were detected by the Voyager 2 plasma wave instrument about 5 days before closest approach at frequencies of 31.1 and 56.2 kilohertz. About 10 hours before closest approach the bow shock was identified by an abrupt broadband burst of electrostatic turbulence at a radial distance of 23.5 Uranus radii. Once Voyager was inside the magnetosphere, strong whistler-mode hiss and chorus emissions were observed at radial distances less than about 8 Uranus radii, in the same region where the energetic particle instruments detected intense fluxes of energetic electrons. Various other plasma waves were also observed in this same region. At the ring plane crossing, the plasma wave instrument detected a large number of impulsive events that are interpreted as impacts of micrometer-sized dust particles on the spacecraft. The maximum impact rate was about 30 to 50 impacts per second, and the north-south thickness of the impact region was about 4000 kilometers.