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

[lyford]

There are several new NH downloads including an EPO poster at
www.boulder.swri.edu/pkb for those interested.

Time to buy more printer cartridges! Thanks, Alan.

[imran]

Public Hearings Set for Pluto Mission

"The spacecraft and instruments are undergoing a very rigorous test program over the next few months," said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "This begins with systems testing, and then proceeds to shake tests and space environment thermal vacuum testing," he told SPACE.com.

After reviews are completed under the National Environmental Policy Act, if NASA decides to proceed with the mission, the spacecraft would await presidential approval to launch next January.

Good luck, Alan.