New Horizons: Pre-launch, launch and main cruise, Pluto and the Kuiper belt Options

[cIclops]

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

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

It is still touch and go whether NH will be launched in 2006 -- a final decision will be made on this in April. If it is delayed until 2007, the flight, without a Jupiter gravity assist, will take three years longer -- but as a compensation, NH will be more likely to have its supply of plutonium fuel (whose processing has been very seriously delayed by the Los Alamos security scandal) topped up enough to allow it to fly by one or more KBOs after Pluto. It is very much open to doubt whether it could operate long enough to reach another KBO after Pluto if it's launched in 2006, despite its shorter flight time.