Uranus: Why Have We Only Visited This Planet Once?

Only Voyager 2 has visited Uranus. George Walker follows the 1986 flyby, the planet's extreme seasons, rings and unusual magnetic field, and the evidence collected since by Hubble and Webb. A future orbiter and probe is a scientific recommendation, not a scheduled mission. We distinguish observed images, processed composites, time-lapses, models and original explanatory scenes. Which would you investigate first: the planet, the rings or a moon? Tell us in the comments. Chapters 00:00 The one spacecraft that visited 00:20 A new planet beyond Saturn 02:18 What Uranus is made of 03:22 The sideways seasons 06:27 How the rings were discovered 08:46 Voyager's Grand Tour 09:50 The 1986 flyby 10:53 Clouds, colour and heat 13:13 An unusual magnetic field 15:11 The five major moons 18:15 Could hidden oceans exist? 19:41 What Hubble and Webb reveal 22:36 Why returning is hard 23:42 A proposed orbiter and probe 24:40 What Uranus can teach us Third-party visual sources (creators credited on screen): NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab — Uranus flyby artist visualization: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20390/ Mike Young / Wikimedia Commons — Herschel-era telescope museum model: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio / Tom Bridgman — Voyager 2 trajectory visualization: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4140/ NASA/JPL — Uranus in true and false color: https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal... NASA, ESA, Erich Karkoschka (LPL) — 20 years of Uranus observations: https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble... Erich Karkoschka (University of Arizona Lunar & Planetary Lab) and NASA — Clear and hazy gas layers: https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble... NASA/JPL — Uranus rings in false color: https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal... NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb) — Webb NIRCam Uranus pan: https://esawebb.org/videos/weic2332a/ NASA/JPL — Uranus ring system: https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal... NASA/JPL-Caltech — Voyage of Discovery: https://science.nasa.gov/resource/voy... NASA, ESA, A. Simon (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), M. Wong and A. Hsu (University of California, Berkeley) — Hubble Uranus 2018: https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble... NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio / Tom Bridgman — Uranus magnetic-field visualization: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4666/ NASA/JPL — Uranus family portrait: https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal... NASA/JPL — Miranda high-resolution mosaic: https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal... NASA/JPL — Ariel's densely pitted surface: https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal... NASA/JPL — Umbriel at closest approach: https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal... NASA/JPL — Titania Voyager image: https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal... NASA/JPL — Oberon at closest approach: https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal... NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, M. El Moutamid (SwRI), M. Hedman (University of Idaho), J. DePasquale (STScI) — Webb Uranus new-moon time-lapse: https://science.nasa.gov/asset/webb/u... NASA, ESA, STScI, A. Simon (NASA-GSFC), M. H. Wong (UC Berkeley), J. DePasquale (STScI), N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble) — Hubble Uranus weather video: https://esahubble.org/videos/heic2303a/ ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, STScI, P. Tiranti, H. Melin, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb) — Webb upper-atmosphere time-lapse: https://esawebb.org/videos/weic2602c/ Media use and licences: NASA imagery and SVS media policy: https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-cente... and https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/help/ ; ESA/Webb CC BY 4.0: https://esawebb.org/copyright/ ; ESA/Hubble CC BY 4.0: https://esahubble.org/copyright/ ; Mike Young telescope model public-domain notice is on its source page above. Third-party video audio is muted; excerpts are trimmed. Still photographs have gentle editorial camera motion; processed colour, time-lapse and conceptual visuals are labelled in the film. Original explanation/assembly: Tomorrow Unraveled. Music: “Crystalline Quiet” from the channel owner's licensed library, mixed quietly under narration. Research: https://science.nasa.gov/uranus/facts/ ; https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voya... ; https://www.nationalacademies.org/rea... Subscribe for more space and science documentaries:    / @tomorrowunraveled   #Uranus #Voyager2 #SpaceDocumentary