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 10 2005, 07:32 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 706 Joined: 3-December 04 From: Boulder, Colorado, USA Member No.: 117 |
QUOTE (clemmentine @ Mar 10 2005, 06:11 AM) According to the New Horizons website, NH will be 11,095 km from Pluto at closest approach. Isn't that inside the orbit of Charon ... I seem to remember that at one time, it was thought that Pluto's atmosphere may envelop Charon. Is that no longer considered likely or is the Pluto CA distance preliminary and can be changed via TCMs? That's funny, we were just talking in the hallway yesterday about how we might get close enough to Pluto to detect some deceleration of the spacecraft due to Pluto's atmosphere- not sure yet if that's possible though I suspect the effect will be negligible. The atmosphere is indeed pretty extended, due to the low gravity, and one of the spacecraft's tasks is to estimate its escape rate via Pluto's perturbation to the solar wind. At 11,000 km altitude the atmosphere will pose no risk to the spacecraft. You're right that we can easily change the flyby altitude, and the current value is just a working number. Coming closer gives better measurements of Pluto's gravity and solar wind perturbations, but makes imaging more difficult due increased smear rates and slew times. |
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