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

[Marcel]

Correction
I think it is only 11.8km/s so the angle is a bit larger but not much

There's one remaining (quite important) question left for me: How much angular change is to be expected due to the flyby ? And is there any flexibility in it (by changing altitude of the flyby for example) ?

And eh, one more: is it already determined how the flyby geometry will be (which altitude, what side, what projected path on the surface, longitude, latitude....etc.) or can it be detailed further during the months or weeks before closest approach while the first details of the planet come in ?

[john_s]

There's one remaining (quite important) question left for me: How much angular change is to be expected due to the flyby ? And is there any flexibility in it (by changing altitude of the flyby for example) ?

And eh, one more: is it already determined how the flyby geometry will be (which altitude, what side, what projected path on the surface, longitude, latitude....etc.) or can it be detailed further during the months or weeks before closest approach while the first details of the planet come in ?

We are not using Pluto's gravity to help with our KBO targeting- Pluto is too small to help us much (it will change our trajectory by less than 0.1 degrees). We will have some flexibility in our flyby geometry (and some, but less, flexibility in our arrival time), but the geometry decision will be made to maximize Pluto science, not to target the KBO. We'll probably make that decision long before we have useful Pluto data from the spacecraft, though.

We will find a KBO in our narrow "cone of accessibility" simply by chosing sufficiently faint, and therefore more abundant, targets. As abalone pointed out, we think we have a good chance of reaching a KBO in the ~30 km diameter class, and a fighting chance of something bigger. We can find objects this faint using large telescopes such as Subaru in Hawaii. Wish us luck!

[abalone]

we think we have a good chance of reaching a KBO in the ~30 km diameter class, and a fighting chance of something  bigger.  We can find objects this faint using large telescopes such as Subaru in Hawaii.  Wish us luck!

I note in your paper that searches could start as early as 2004, has this happened and are there any results yet

[Marcel]

Wish us luck!

Good luck !!!
I am REALLY looking forward to the mission and i am happy to finally see Pluto up close in the next decade. Fingers crossed for launch....good luck on that one first i'd say

[Alan Stern]

All--

Yesterday the launch clock stood at T-100 days. As of today, we're
in to double digits.

In project news, the past week has seen a great deal of instrument
and autonomy testing down at the Cape, and the completion of all SWAP
activities in San Antonio-- SWAP is now returning to the spacecraft for
flight. Yesterday we had yet another successful launch approval meeting
at NASA HQ, this time with Administrator Griffin and his Program Management
Council.

SWAP and the second IEM are to be re-installed on the spacecraft later this
week. There is also a PEPSSI activity to install some Kapton tape under
the instrument in order to put in place the kind of thermal interface
that the PEPSSI engineering team wants at their mount. At that point, the
spacecraft is back to flight config (!) with all boxes aboard, for the first
time since early September.

Next week is the Mission Operations Status Review, a 5-day spacecraft
comprehensive performance test, more DSN testing, and the Boeing third stage
Design Acceptance Qual Review. The following week we do another multi-day
mission sim, and the monthly Mission Ops Readiness and quarterly SOC
reviews.

-Alan

[jamescanvin]

Thanks Alan, and good luck over these last 100 days. Hope everything runs smoothly and nothing like MER's pyro problems happen!

Cheers, James

[Toma B]

Hurricane Wilma is heding for Cape Canaveral...
I'm woried about what can it do to Atlas 5 rocket...
It is siting on the pad???
Is it SAFE???

[RNeuhaus]

I don't think so. Cape Canaveral will have tropical depression.
http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/hurri...anes/wilma.html

Rodolfo

[Toma B]

I was refering to this...
C.C. Space Center CLOSED !!!

[mcaplinger]

Hurricane Wilma is heding for Cape Canaveral...
I'm woried about what can it do to Atlas 5 rocket...
It is siting on the pad???
Is it SAFE???    

An Atlas V stays inside the Vertical Integration Facility (essentially a big building) until about 12 hours before launch, when it's rolled out to the pad.

They're pretty used to this sort of weather at KSC.

[mchan]

An Atlas V stays inside the Vertical Integration Facility (essentially a big building) until about 12 hours before launch, when it's rolled out to the pad.

They're pretty used to this sort of weather at KSC.

I don't recall incidents of damage to launcher from hurricanes, but there have been a couple of cases where improper sealing allowed water into the payload integration room at the top of the building. In one case I recall the payload had to be removed and inspected.

[Comga]

I don't recall incidents of damage to launcher from hurricanes, but there have been a couple of cases where improper sealing allowed water into the payload integration room at the top of the building.  In one case I recall the payload had to be removed and inspected.

The New Horizons spacecraft has been put back in its shipping container to protect against something like a rain leak or wind getting in. This lesson has been learned. (The webcam link in post #63 by hal_9000 in "New Horizons Arrives At Ksc" is down so it can't be seen. Presumably things are shut off and locked down.)

[ljk4-1]

A post on the FPSPACE list says there is going to be a significant Pluto discovery announcement today.

Well??



A new moon? Another KBO bigger than Pluto? A giant carving on its surface?

[john_s]

A post on the FPSPACE list says there is going to be a significant Pluto discovery announcement today.

Well??



A new moon?  Another KBO bigger than Pluto?  A giant carving on its surface?

Well now it can be told- not one, but two, new moons of Pluto- probably in fairly circular orbits not too far outside the orbit of Charon- a regular little satellite system. We found them this summer with the Hubble Space Telescope. See this space.com article. Very cool!

[BPCooper]

Hmmm. I'm guessing SlashDot is wrong here. The SlashDot article has one sentence saying it will return, but I've never before heard that it isn't on an escape trajectory. The NH website doesn't even say what the flyby velocity of Pluto is, so there's no way to tell from that site. I've seen other places saying 11 km/sec for the flyby, but I don't know if this takes into account that Pluto is already travelling a few km/sec outbound as this mission is arriving well past preihelion for Pluto. The outbound velocity might be 13-16 km/sec.

I would imagine that NH would not end up returning to 1AU, since after the encounter with Jupiter, it will have a perihelion closer to five AU.

If the galaxy were not filled with gravitational knots (other stars), you might expect the Voyagers and Pioneers to return in 225 million years.

(Thought this was answered already): a member of the NH team told me recently that they were aware of the Slashdot article, and that they do not know where they obtained that info because it is incorrect. NH is on a hyperbolic escape trajectory just like Voyager 1-2/Pioneer 10-11 (as Alan mentioned).

Wonder where SD got that.

What I am interested in finding out now is what year NH will surpass Voyager 1. One reply said they are planning to figure it out, but haven't yet.

I would guess that it would be this century but in the latter half.