We present a feasibility study for passive sounding of Uranian icy moons using Uranian Kilometric Radio (UKR) emissions in the 100–900 kHz band. We provide a summary description of the observation geometry, the UKR characteristics, and estimate the sensitivity for an instrument analogous to the Cassini Radio Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) but with a modified receiver digitizer and signal processing chain. We show that the concept has the potential to directly and unambiguously detect cold oceans within Uranian satellites and provide strong constraints on the interior structure in the presence of warm or no oceans. As part of a geophysical payload, the concept could therefore have a key role in the detection of oceans within the Uranian satellites. The main limitation of the concept is coherence losses attributed to the extended source size of the UKR and dependence on the illumination geometry. These factors represent constraints on the tour design of a future Uranus mission in terms of flyby altitudes and encounter timing.

中文翻译：

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利用天王星千米辐射被动探测天王星卫星的可行性

我们提出了一项利用 100-900 kHz 频段的天王星千米无线电 (UKR) 发射对天王星冰卫星进行被动探测的可行性研究。我们提供了观测几何结构、UKR 特性的摘要描述，并估计了类似于卡西尼无线电等离子体波科学 (RPWS) 的仪器的灵敏度，但具有改进的接收器数字化仪和信号处理链。我们表明，该概念有可能直接、明确地探测天王星卫星内的寒冷海洋，并在存在温暖海洋或没有海洋的情况下对内部结构提供强有力的约束。因此，作为地球物理有效载荷的一部分，这一概念可能在天王星卫星内的海洋探测中发挥关键作用。该概念的主要局限性是由于 UKR 的扩展光源尺寸和对照明几何形状的依赖而导致的相干损失。这些因素代表了未来天王星任务的游览设计在飞越高度和相遇时间方面的限制。