Jovian Gravity

[Stranger_On_A_Train]

@Telperion

There’s probably liquid hydrogen.

There is definitely hydrogen in a liquid state and not all that far below the visible horizon. Deeper in, there is actually hydrogen in a conductive metallic state.

Stranger

[Der_Trihs]

@Hypno-Toad

So the sci-fi stories I’ve read of folks using airships to live in Jupiter’s atmosphere is not possible? Unless those folks are OK with 2.5 Gs?

@Stranger_On_A_Train

Saturn has rings, better moons (including the only moon with a significant atmosphere and surface hydrocarbons), and is generally just a better neighborhood to hang around in. It is almost twice as far from Earth orbit at Jupiter, but if you’re going out that far into the black anyway, you might as well make the destination worth the effort.

Also it has essentially the same gravity as Earth, so at least you could have airships in Saturn’s atmosphere without being squashed.

[DSYoungEsq]

@Stranger_On_A_Train

There are many reasons why it would not be desireable to live in or around Jupiter, including the charged particle environment, high magnetosphere, charged plasma from Io spraying everywhere, and having to see a giant staring red eye (or anus, depending on how you think of it) every time you look through a viewing portal. Basically, Jupiter is the Jersey Shore of planets.

Saturn has rings, better moons (including the only moon with a significant atmosphere and surface hydrocarbons), and is generally just a better neighborhood to hang around in. It is almost twice as far from Earth orbit at Jupiter, but if you’re going out that far into the black anyway, you might as well make the destination worth the effort.

Stranger

So sell me on why I don’t want to move out into the boonies around Uranus?

[Stranger_On_A_Train]

@DSYoungEsq

So sell me on why I don’t want to move out into the boonies around Uranus?

Coldest planet, bland atmosphere, no moons of significant size (the largest, Titania, has a surface gravity that is of 4% of Earth), too far from the Sun to use solar power (solar irradiance of 0.2% of that at Earth orbit). At least Neptune has a decent sized moon, a visibly active upper atmosphere with a brilliant azure color, and a higher concentration of hydrocarbons than any atmosphere other than Titan. If you could contrive to collect material from the atmosphere you’ll find ammonia, ammonium and hydrogen sulfide, and water ice; and deeper within the atmosphere you’ll find the largest reserves of hydrocarbons, and enough internal heating that you could potentially extract enough mechanical energy to process the hydrocarbons into raw elements or usable materials; if you were planning to launch an interstellar probe or starship, this would probably be the place to construct it (although if you had sufficient control of power to send a spacecraft over interstellar distances transiting an interplanetary range is probably trivial). Short of Jupiter and Saturn, it is arguably the most interesting planet in the Solar System and some of its phenomena like the magnetosphere are as mysterious as any other phenonema in planetary science.

Stranger

[eburacum45]

Uranus has one advantage- the lowest escape velocity of any gas giant in our system. So if you want to mine any gas giant for hydrogen or helium isotopes, Uranus is probably the best one to choose.

[TriPolar]

@Elendil_s_Heir

Heavy, man.

Check out the 1942 Isaac Asimov short story “Victory Unintentional” for an interesting - and funny - look at a robotic mission to Jupiter.

I loved that story. One of the earliest works of science fiction I ever read. There was something of a Three Stooges quality to those robots. The humor may have stoked my desire to read more of the genre.

[Peter_Morris]

@Elendil_s_Heir

Heavy, man.

Check out the 1942 Isaac Asimov short story “Victory Unintentional” for an interesting - and funny - look at a robotic mission to Jupiter.

Interesting and funny? Wasn’t this the one where the rejection letter consisted of the chemical formula for skunk scent?

[Andy_L]

@Peter_Morris

Interesting and funny? Wasn’t this the one where the rejection letter consisted of the chemical formula for skunk scent?

Yes. Victory Unintentional - Wikipedia

“. John W. Campbell of Astounding Science Fiction so disliked the story that he rejected it with the chemical formula for butyl mercaptan, which Campbell knew the chemistry graduate student author knew. Asimov sold it to Super Science Stories in March, which published the story in August 1942.”