Why doesn't NASA sent a satellite to Sedna?

I was wondering if it would be at all possible for NASA to send something up to circle Sedna when it comes near pluto. It would make sense to put one there if the planet goes faster than a conventional satellite. And while being out there we could photograph deeper space and observe the Oort cloud and such. Of course we'd have to have a nice window of time before Sedna left the solar system. Do you think it could be done?

Who has the time? Its too far, A couple of generations to get there, thats if you dont hit anything.

Originally posted by SpittinCobra
Who has the time? Its too far, A couple of generations to get there, thats if you dont hit anything.

Space is unimaginably massive, so your chances of hitting something are pretty slim.

Originally posted by Catfish

Originally posted by SpittinCobra
Who has the time? Its too far, A couple of generations to get there, thats if you dont hit anything.

Space is unimaginably massive, so your chances of hitting something are pretty slim.

Dont forget about the asteroid belt in the middle of our solar system.

So you don't think it's worth the time? We've gotten to neptune before, and hubble still takes pictures of deep space. As long as the planets were situated right the spacecraft could just use each one's gravity to put itself in orbit around Sedna.

Originally posted by SpittinCobra
Dont forget about the asteroid belt in the middle of our solar system.

:bnghd: and how do you think we've sent probes to the outer planets? we go THROUGH the asteroid belt... the asteroid belt is nothing like what you see in movies. if it were, you'd no doubt see a narrow band of light in the sky from it reflecting sunlight at night.

Originally posted by Dark_Acid
So you don't think it's worth the time? We've gotten to neptune before, and hubble still takes pictures of deep space. As long as the planets were situated right the spacecraft could just use each one's gravity to put itself in orbit around Sedna.

and that would take a lot longer than just going straight there... it would be what would have to be done though. and no, i really do not think it would be worth the time or trouble of doing. that's why we've never sent anything to pluto. it just wouldn't be worth the time or money.

that's why we've never sent anything to pluto. it just wouldn't be worth the time or money.

Never Say Never Again.

A probe was sent to Pluto, not specifically to it, but it was sent to a planet and then to to Pluto before it was set loose.

Plus noone as yet knows the specifics of Sednas orbit, a lot more knowledge has to be accumulated before we could send a probe out. Plus the fact that all it would be able to see would be Sedna itself (and maybe its moon). To see any other Oort cloud objects it would need to be a much much larger and more powerful probe than any other we have ever sent out.

Originally posted by surfup
Never Say Never Again.

A probe was sent to Pluto, not specifically to it, but it was sent to a planet and then to to Pluto before it was set loose.

i was saying never in that we have never sent anything there yet... and no, we haven't sent anything there. i know there is a mission proposed, but it's been in that proposed state for a few years now.

The main reason NASA hasn't and will not send another one, because it is just another kupier belt object, there are millions like them.

If it finds something interesting about the planet, NASA will send and ESA will follow them and so will the chinese.

The current planned mission to our outer "planet" is a fly by. The intention is to visit other objects in the Kuiper belt once the Pluto segment is done. If Sedna were in the right position at the right time, it is theoretically possible to photograph it. But that's an exceedly small probability. And it would be like 20 years or more to get there.

Its better not to send a probe now because if they spend the money on the Nuclear propulsion system of the JIMO project currently put under the Prometheus name they can send the prometheus craft after completing its misions around jupiter. It then can go to the other worlds between jupiter and zedna and ending with zedna. we can send a row of the same multifuncitonal probes with it and drop one along every place we want to explore. thats much more cheaper than sending out some slow sateliets which will take longer then the nuclear powered propulsion systems currently being investigated for use on the Prometheus.

Originally posted by SpittinCobra

Originally posted by Catfish

Originally posted by SpittinCobra
Who has the time? Its too far, A couple of generations to get there, thats if you dont hit anything.

Space is unimaginably massive, so your chances of hitting something are pretty slim.

Dont forget about the asteroid belt in the middle of our solar system.

well the asteroids dont have a big chance of hitting it. Even the asteroids are REALLY far apart. Its not like in starwars or anything like that, that the asteroides are 20 feet apart.

Well, if you really wanna send a probe to Sedna the next time it orbits near Pluto, you'll have to be patient cuz it will take 10500 more years before it comes even close again. And when I say close, it still means very very very ((very) x 10^12) far away. At least, 10500 earth years is the current prediction by scientists for 1 sedna year. I don't know how sure they are. It has a huge elliptical orbit, and so only every 10500 years is where it passes near (relatively) pluto.

Someone said it would take a probe generations to get there if we did try? I'm not exactly sure, but I don't think it would take that long. We've sent probe(s) to Neptune before. Anyone know how long it took them to get there? A few years maybe? Well, whatever it is, take that amount of time and probably triple it which would tell you how long it would take one of our probes to reach sedna, and I mean at it's CLOSEST passing point. I think sedna is twice as far away as pluto at this point.