Ever since I was a kid, I've always been fascinated by Neptune.  Before Voyager it was generally placed as an afterthought at the end of space books under the heading Uranus, Neptune and Pluto - often with little more than a paragraph devoted to it. 

Thankfully the eighth planet is getting its time in the sun these days, and there is even talk of a future orbiter mission to the planet.  Once it gets there, the mission, at this stage at least, looks awesomely impressive.  But the trouble is, it could take a generation to get there - around 15 to 18 years! 

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/mission_neptune_study.html

I would suspect the increased travel time in comparison to New Horizons is due to it being an orbital mission and not a flyby.  I would like to know if there is any way to get somewhere as far away as Neptune fairly quickly AND be able to perform an orbital insertion?

Would it be possible to have an engine on the back of the spacecraft that was able to rotate forwards and perform a braking function near the end of the trip? 

Maybe not.But the fastest and earliest mission to it is most probably,according to NASA,is 2025!Lame!I think the spacecraft will be called Leverrier,after Urbain Leverrier,1 of Neptune's existance believer predicter and a Vulcan believer

Is Aerobraking an option? Risky i know, because we probably know so little about the atmosphere of Neptune, regarding the precise calculations needed anyway.

If it could be done, it would speed up the journey time, and save money.

Although i put it forward, i also know if the mission failed i'd be lucky to see another in my life time. So, probably i'd vote against my own idea!

 

I'm a huge Neptune fan myself. I remember rushing home from work to see the latest images from Voyager 2 on the news ( no internet back then! )

I would very much like to see an orbiter mission get there. Triton too is an astounding place.

With Neptune deceptively looking like an Earth type world at the far edge of the solar system, and lets not understate things, neptune was truly beautiful. Then Triton bringing back memories of the active and suprising moons of Jupiter from earlier in the Voyager mission. The neptune encounter will always be one of the most memorable times of my life.

Anth 

 

If a spacecraft the speed of Voyager 1 or slightly in between Voyager 1 and 2's speed,it will take up to 13 years to reach for Neptune.NASA has to wait for the time to past so when several planet or planets  are in predicted places,the spacecraft will have 1 or more gravity assists from Venus,Mars or any other gas giant like Jupiter,which is commonly used(e.g Pioneers 10 and 11 and Cassini),or Saturn.As for Uranus,it gets farther out of the orbit so it would be up to 20AU away from Neptune.If such a spacecraft would be launch before 2030,only Mars and Saturn are good opportunity gravity assists that spacecraft can use.

If such a spacecraft would be launch before I die(just joking,I'm still young,13),I predict these maybe the mission primary objectives:

Observe's Neptune's stormy weather

Observe Neptune's 5 faint rings

Observe Neptune gravitional force and magnetic field

Shoot an anti-(-250oC) probe to observe Triton's seasons and plumes,why does Triton has those?

These are most probably the secondary objectives:

Observe Proteus,the Non-spherical Enceladus-sized moon of Neptune

Observe Nereid's highly eccentric orbit,the 3rd largest Neptunian moon

Search for new Neptunian moons

 

I have just read NASA's mission's plans for a Neptune orbiter.It seems like the launch date is going to be after New Horizons leaves Pluto.How sad.I still cant believe Neptune has a large retrograde moon.Why not 3?4?Why is Neptune gifted with nothing so special?What did the Roman God of Water did in his past?