New Horizons Space Mission

NASA: SHEDDING LIGHT ON FRONTIER WORLDS NEW HORIZONS The first mission in NASA's New Frontiers mission category intended to study the only unexplored planet in the Solar System - Pluto, it's moons and one or two other Kuiper belt objects, depending on which are in position to be explored. The mission profile was proposed by a team led by principal investigator Alan Stern of Southwest Research Institute. New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt is one of the most significant advances in planetary science in the last 30 years. It's purpose is to unlock the secrets of the solar system's third zone. MISSION TIMELINE O 29 NOV 2001 New Horizons selected by NASA 2 19 JAN 2006 3 13 JUN 2006 Asteroid 132524 APL flyby Successful launch at 14:00 EST After a three month concept study, The spacecraft was successfully launched after brief delay due to The probe passed closest to the asteroid 132524 APL at about 101,867 NASA announced that New Horizons would proceed with preliminary design studies for a Pluto flyby mission cloud cover km at 04:05 UTC. Pictures were taken Saturn 18 MAR 2011 08 JUN 2008 Earth Uranus's orbit Saturn's orbit 19.2 AU from Earth 9.5 AU from Earth 25 AUG 2014 Mars, Neptune's orbit Jupiter 30.1 AU from Earth Uranus 2038 Outer heliosphere Pluto Neptune heading in the direction of constellation Sagittarius 4 28 FEB 2007 6 14 JUL 2015 6 2019 Jupiter flyby Pluto and it's moons flyby Possible flyby of one or more KBOS Closest approach occurred at 2.305 million km, 21.219 km/s. Gravity assist Pluto around 11:47 UTC at The probe will perform flybys of other Kuiper Belt Objects. Hubble's search had uncovered two potential targets - PT1, a 40 to 70 km wide object and PT3, a bit bigger than PT1, 12,500 km, 13.78 km/s. Pluto is 32.9 AU from Sun. Pluto's moons increased probe's speed by 4 km/s. Probe returned data about. Jupiter's atmosphere, moons and magnetosphere around 12:01 UTC at 29,473 km, 13.87 km/s. at distances from the Sun of 43-44 AU 16.26 km/s 58,536 km/h; 36,373 mph record set for the highest launch speed of a human- made object from Earth After passing Jupiter, New Horizons has spent most of its journey towards Pluto in hibernation mode: redundant components systems are shut down to extend their life cycle, decrease operation costs and free the Deep Space Network for other missions. well as guidance and control 4.5 hours time that takes radio signals to travel to the spacecraft from Earth $722 million New Horizons is intended to fly within 12,500 km (7,767 mi) of Pluto. New Horizons will have a relative velocity of 13.78 km/s (49,600 km/h; 30,800 mph) at closest approach, and will come as close as 27,000 km (17,000 mi) to Charon. Pluto- Charon is the solar system's only known binary planet. Distance between Pluto and Charon is <1/20 the distance between Earth and Moon. cost of the mission over 15 years (2001-2016) including spacecrafft and instrument development, launch vehicle, mission operations data analysis, and public outreach 434,738 people's names After passing by Pluto, New Horizons will continue farther into the Kuiper belt. Because the flight path is determined by the Pluto flyby, objects must be found within a cone, extending from Pluto, of less than a degree's width. Targets with the bigest potential are PT1 [Potential Target 1, a 40 to 70-kilometer wide object] and PT3 [Potential Target 3, a bit bigger than PT1]. traveling with the spacecraft stored on a compact disc SPACECRAFT & MISSION OBJECTIVES 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) Mission type: Pluto and Kuiper Belt Objects flyby Operator: NASA Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Manufacturer: 0.76 m Mission duration: 11 years (2.5 ft) Launch mass: 478 kg (1,054 lb) Power: 228 W Launch rocket: Atlas V 551 Launch site: Cape Canaveral SLC-41 Primary objectives (required): erize geology and morphology of Pluto and Charon e Map chemical compositions of Pluto and Charon surfaces 3 Characterize non-ionized atmosphere of Pluto and its escape rate O Char Some of the secondary objectives (expected): O Characterize Pluto's ionosphere and its interaction with the solar wind e Characterize the time variability of Pluto's surface and atmosphere 3 Image selected Pluto and Charon areas in stereo O Map surface temperatures of Pluto and Charon O Map the chemical composition of selected Pluto and Charon areas 6 Search for additional moons and any rings SPACECRAFT SYSTEMS & INSTRUMENTS REX - Radio Science Experiment RTG- Radioisotope Thermolelectric Generator SWAP - Solar Wind Around Pluto Solar wind and plasma spectrometer; measures atmospheric“escape rate" and observes Pluto's interaction with solar Passive radiometer; conducts radio science investigations using the communications channels; measures atmosperic temperature and pressure Provides 250W, 30 V DC at launch, and is predicted to drop 3 watts every year, decaying to 200W by the encounter with Pluto. Contains 11 kg of plutonium (238 oxide pellets) wind PEPSSI - Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation Energetic partidle spectrometer; measures the composition and density of plasma escaping from Pluto's atmosphere. Low-gain Flight Computer antenna REX The spacecraft carries two Medium-gain computer systems: • Command and Data antenna Handling system • Guidance and control processor Propulsion system PEPSSI High-gain antenna Spin-stabilized and three-axis stabilized modes controlled SWAP RTG Each of the two L. with hydrazine monopropellant 77 kg. 16 thrusters (4x4.4N and 12x0.9N); larger used for trajectory systems is duplicated for redundancy, for a total of four Thrusters ALICE computers. LORRI corrections and small Ralph telescope - visible and infrared ones for attitude control Star RALPH and spinup/spindown trackers imager/ spectrofotometer Provides color, composition and thermal maps. Makes panchromatic geologic maps. maneuvers. SDC (under spacecraft) LORRI - Long Range Reconnaissance Imager LORRI is a telescopic camera; obtains encounter data at long distances. The instrument is equipped with a high-resolution 1024x1024 CCD imager with a 208.3 mm aperture giving a resolution of 5 µrad. It is one of the largest silicon-carbide telescopes flown at the time. ALICE - ultraviolet imaging SDC - Student Dust Counter spectrometer Built and operated by students at the University of Colorado at Boulder; measures the space dust peppering New Horizons during its voyage across the solar system. Analyzes composition and structure of Pluto's atmosphere and looks for atmospheres around Charon, other Pluto's moons and Kuiper Belt Objects spacecraft encounters. New Horizons is the first mission to the last planet - the initial reconnaissance of Pluto-Charon and the Kuiper Belt - sent out to explore the mysterious worlds at the edge of our solar system. EARTH - PLUTO FACTS How Pluto and it's largest moon Charon compare to Earth and the Moon PLUTO CHARON MOON EARTH Diameter: 2350±15 km 1206±5 km 3476 km 12,756 km Orbital period: 247.78 Earth years 6.38 Earth days 27.32 Earth days 365.3 Earth days Rotation: 6.38 Earth days 6.38 Earth days 27 Earth days 1 Earth day Discovered: 1930 1978 Distance from Sun: 4.44 - 7.31 bln km 4.44 - 7.38 bln km 0.14 - 0.15 bln km 0.14 - 0.15 bln km PLUTO'S MOONS (to scale) Pluto Charon Styx Nix Kerberos Hydra 64,721 km Orbit paths Hydra Semi-major axis Orbital period Discovered (Earth days) Diameter Kerberos (km) (km) (year) Charon CHARON 1206+5 17,536±3 6.38 1978 STYX 8-28 42,413 20.16 2012 Pluto Styx NIX 46-140 48,690 24.85 2005 Nix KERBEROS 14-44 57,750 32.16 2011 HYDRA 59-172 64,721 38.2 2005 SWRI JPL NASA Find out more on http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/ SOURCES: NASA, WIKIPEDIA, NEW HORIZONS MISSION PI ALAN STERN INFOGRAPHIC: EUGEN DOBRIC