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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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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Mar 1 2005, 12:11 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 532 Joined: 19-February 05 Member No.: 173 |
New Horizons will be able to transmit at 37 Kbps from Jupter, and a little over 1 Kbps from Pluto. The s/c has redundent 64 Gbit solid state recorders.
As to Jupiter imaging resolution, color images made near closest approach (C/A) will be of a resolution comparable to the Cassini image posted above. Panchromatic images will be about 3X better. However in both cases the imagers are very senstivie, having been designed for optimal perfomance at 32 AU. As such, there is likely to be overexposure in regions away from the terminator near C/A. |
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