New Horizons: Pre-launch, launch and main cruise, Pluto and the Kuiper belt |
New Horizons: Pre-launch, launch and main cruise, Pluto and the Kuiper belt |
Feb 8 2005, 02:09 PM
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#201
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Member Group: Members Posts: 133 Joined: 29-January 05 Member No.: 161 |
Yes it's happening after all these years, the mission to the last planet!
And maybe to celebrate the confirmation of budget, NASA approval preparations and the fueling of the RTG (radioisotope thermoelectric generator), there is an updated web site at http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/ Launch will be January 2006 with arrival at the Pluto Charon system July 2015 (mark your calender!) and then on through the Kuiper belt during 2016-2020 and beyond. 20.8-centimeter telescope for 100m resolution at closest approach IR/UV spectrometers 2 x 8GB data recorders data rate: 768 bps (sic) to 70m DSN 465kg including fuel $650m 336 days to launch -------------------- |
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Nov 6 2005, 02:56 PM
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#202
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1276 Joined: 25-November 04 Member No.: 114 |
QUOTE New Horizons would fly 3 to 4 times closer to Jupiter than the Cassini spacecraft, coming within 31.7-32.4 Jupiter radii of the large planet." That puts it just outside Callisto orbit? Did I figure that out right? |
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Nov 6 2005, 03:24 PM
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#203
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3648 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
QUOTE (Decepticon @ Nov 6 2005, 04:56 PM) Yep, Callisto orbits at a distance of about 26 Jupiter radii. The sooner the spacecraft launches in the launch window, the closer it will get to Jupiter and proportionally faster to Pluto. -------------------- |
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Nov 7 2005, 01:46 AM
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#204
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
QUOTE (ugordan @ Nov 6 2005, 08:24 AM) Yep, Callisto orbits at a distance of about 26 Jupiter radii. The sooner the spacecraft launches in the launch window, the closer it will get to Jupiter and proportionally faster to Pluto. Of course, this means that NH may fly within 6 or so Jr of Callisto, if the timing is right -- I hope it is! Ganymede could also be favorable positioned. For Io and Europa, the margin of difference is less. I doubt if an opportunistic Callisto flyby is worth tweaking any mission constraints over, although with such a long lag between Jupiter and Pluto flybys, I would guess that it would be possible in principle to time the Jupiter encounter as desired, then tweak Pluto arrival quite easily in the years to come. But that propellant budget could buy us a KBO or not post-Pluto, and it would end up being a poor tradeoff if a KBO were missed so that a so-so Callisto image sequence could be obtained! |
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