So, where next for ESA and NASA?
I’d like to see another mission to Titan. This time an active one. Not just a lander, but something like an autonomous dirigible that can land - or float - if the winds get too high.
Both Enceladus and Europa make very interesting targets on the basis of available surface or subsurface water. My money is on Uranus, though, which is probably the most anomalous planetary body in the Solar System (aside from Earth, of course, which has the bizarre property of an unnaturally highly oxidizing atmosphere and self-replicating organisms). The 98° axial tilt, off axis magnetosphere, and various meteorological phenomena make it very interesting from a planetary science perspective. Unfortunately, the small and low mass moon system makes it undesireable from that perspective, and next to Venus it’s probably the most featureless body in the system. A dedicated joint mission to Uranus and Neptune would be interesting to compare the “twice” ice giant worlds which are likely to be very common in extrasolar planetary systems, and Neptune’s moon Triton may be an interesting target in it’s own right.
Stranger