Scientists from the Paris Observatory used the Hubble Space Telescope to take a look at the auroras on Uranus (Picture: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Lamy / Observatoire de Paris)

Up until now, NASA has never paid too much attention to Uranus – but now the space agency wants to take a good, long look.

And one of the things it might be investigating is all that gas.

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A NASA group outlined four possible missions to the ice giants Uranus and Neptune – including three orbiters and a possible fly-by of Uranus.

The planned probes would take off in the 2030s, New Scientist reports.

‘The preferred mission is an orbiter with an atmospheric probe to either Uranus or Neptune – this provides the highest science value, and allows in depth study of all aspects of either planet’s system: rings, satellites, atmosphere, magnetosphere,’ says Amy Simon, co-chair of the Ice Giants Pre-Decadal Study group.

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One of the proposed missions includes a fly-by of Uranus, which would include a narrow-angle camera – and a probe which would drop into Uranus’s atmosphere to measure gas and heavy elements.

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There are four proposed missions – three orbiters and a fly-by of Uranus, which would include a narrow angle camera to draw out details, especially of the ice giant’s moons. It would also drop an atmospheric probe to take a dive into Uranus’s atmosphere to measure the levels of gas and heavy elements there.