NASA reveals plans to return to Uranus - 33 YEARS after last visit

Lying over 1.6 billion miles from Earth, Uranus is one of the most mysterious planets in our Solar System.

And while NASA has only visited Uranus once, back in 1986, the space agency has revealed plans to return to the planet.

NASA is developing a next-generation radiometer, specifically to study the atmospheres of Uranus or Neptune.

The instrument is designed to capture data on Uranus’ atmospheric heating and cooling, as well as its cloud layers and their chemical composition.

A massive storm on Uranus (NASA, ESA, A. Simon (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center))

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Once it’s collected this information, the instrument will take a suicidal plunge through Uranus’ atmosphere, gathering information about these poorly understood regions as it travels.

Shahid Aslam, who is leading the team developing the instrument, said: “Available materials, filters, electronic detectors, flight computing, and data management and processing have all improved.

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“Frankly, we have better technology all the way around. It’s clear that the time is now to develop the next generation of this instrument for future atmospheric entry probes.”

It remains unclear when the instrument will make the journey to Uranus.

However, even if it’s launched soon, it will be a while before it arrives at Uranus. Voyager-2 took almost 9.5 years to reach Uranus, launching in 1977 and arriving in 1986!