Scientists are pushing for more trips to space saying that missions to Uranus need to be prioritised
The planet is known as an “ice giant” and is the seventh in our Solar System only having been visited once before in 1986.
Researchers are calling for the US space agency NASA to conduct an in-depth study of Uranus to provide a better idea of similarly sized objects around other stars.
The US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine made the recommendation known as a “Decadal survey”.
The document is a summary of what scientific questions the American Research Community thinks are important and need to be focused on.
NASA has abided by these recommendations previously.
The last survey asked for a rock-collection mission to Mars and a mission to Jupiter and its moon Europa – both of which are being completed.
Scientists have been calling for further exploration of Uranus of Neptune since the last missions were made on the Voyager-2 spacecraft.
With more planets being discovered around other stars the need for these missions is growing.
Researchers have emphasised that it is still unclear as to how planets the size of Uranus form.
More research is needed to understand “how a world can start to grow and grow and not just carry on to become Jupiter-mass in size”.
