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

[Toma B]

The wheels are in motion....

Atlas 5 rolls to the pad for countdown rehearsal

[tasp]

I don't have the tools or data, but from the summary presentations, New Horizons will pass Pluto at a relative velocity of ~13.8 km/sec.  It's nominal path will be close to radial from the sun, with some tangential motion from the Jupiter gravity assist fly-by.  Pluto's velocity is about 6 km/sec, also mostly tangential to the sun, so this contributes to the relative velocity.  Therefore, the velocity of New Horizons relative to the sun will be <13 km/sec.  It is unlikely that it will match Voyager II's 17+ km/sec radial velocity, and so never surpass it in distance.  (It is hard to beat four gravity assists for picking up speed.  Pluto, on the other hand, will not make a significant change in the velocity or direction of New Horizons.  I believe that it is too small.)

Anyone on the mission team should be able to find the actual radial velocity in a minute.  Can someone volunteer real information rather than this guess?

Voyager II experienced a rather large deflection at Neptune (IIRC 40 degrees or so) but no gravitational assist as it had at Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. The polar passage over Neptune to realize the Triton encounter did not 'boost' the craft speed relative to the sun. (I seem to recall a very slight decel, in fact)

Pluto's mass is indeed too small to deflect the trajectory much, but radio tracking of NH will help refine Pluto system mass estimates.

I hope the 2 new satellites are visible in the NH cameras from a long way out, perhaps optical tracking can help pin down their inclinations and eccentricities. Is it too much to hope their masses can be nailed down too?

Perhaps we will find one or both chaotically tumbling like Hyperion . . . .

[ljk4-1]

A historic space mission nears launch

Next month NASA is scheduled to launch New Horizons, the first
spacecraft mission to Pluto. Alan Stern, principal investigator on
the mission, gives an overview of the mission and its importance to
scientists and to the country in general.

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/509/1

[JRehling]

I hope  the 2 new satellites are visible in the NH cameras from a long way out, perhaps optical tracking can help pin down their inclinations and eccentricities.  Is it too much to hope their masses can be nailed down too?

Perhaps  we will find one or both chaotically tumbling like Hyperion . . .  .

They'll certainly be visible. NH will exceed HST's resolution for months on the way in. For a long time, the new moons will be seen as single-pixel entities. Near closest approach, they would appear bigger, although competition for instrument pointing will be intense.

I don't see how either could have [significantly] chaotic rotation -- Hyperion gets yanked around by close approaches from Titan. There's no equivalent that either of these moons has to put up with. They will either be tidally locked or rotating regularly.

I once had an equation that predicted pretty well which solar system bodies have tidally locked rotation and which didn't. It would be interesting to apply it to these new moons; someone else will have to do that...

[tasp]

They'll certainly be visible. NH will exceed HST's resolution for months on the way in. For a long time, the new moons will be seen as single-pixel entities. Near closest approach, they would appear bigger, although competition for instrument pointing will be intense.

I don't see how either could have [significantly] chaotic rotation -- Hyperion gets yanked around by close approaches from Titan. There's no equivalent that either of these moons has to put up with. They will either be tidally locked or rotating regularly.

I once had an equation that predicted pretty well which solar system bodies have tidally locked rotation and which didn't. It would be interesting to apply it to these new moons; someone else will have to do that...

I admit to being quite interested in the odd tumbling of Hyperion and wanted some more examples for study. Hyperion being in a resonance with Titan, and the new Pluto moons apparently being in resonance with Charon, I was cautiously hoping for a 'toe in the door' for some more chaotically tumbling objects. I have thought that direct overhead sunlight exposure might explain the dark bottom craters of Hyperion, and another object or two in a similar state might help pin down some theories.

Tide lock predictions for the new moons would be useful for theoretical work, too.

If I may ask, did your equation generate times to tide lock for various bodies?

I have speculated that tide lock for Iapetus was very slow to occur, but I have no idea if thousand, millions or billions of years is the actual number.

[tanichols]

Hello Everyone,

Really interesting to read the discussions you guys have had about New Horizons on the site.

Many of you may remember me as "the high school kid" who created the website to try and keep NASA on course with a mission to Pluto.

Since no real campaigning has been necessary for the mission since the 2 initial bouts after New Horizons has been selected, I've been in "hiding."

It's great to see New Horizons so close to launch. Luckily, I was able to spend 2 summers interning on the mission with Dr. Stern out in Colorado and with the E/PO Team down at Johns Hopkins. What a great opportunity and experience!

Just a few days ago I was down at KSC getting interviewed for a documentary they are doing on the Mission, titled "Passport to Pluto". It's going to air on the Discovery Science Channel and NASA TV, so stay tuned for the program it promises to be enjoyable.

http://passporttoknowledge.com/

I'd been to KSC before but it was great seeing the third stage delivered and the Spacecraft sitting and waiting for fueling. It was also great to see some of the people I'd worked with since my involvement with the Pluto mission again. The Atlas V is amazing! Being out at the pad it was really great to be there knowing this thing is finally going to happen thanks to the efforts of so many in supporting this mission through thick and thin!

Take care all and onward to Pluto!

Regards,
Ted A. Nichols II

[hal_9000]

They getting up New Horizons to put in upper stage.

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[punkboi]

They getting up New Horizons to put in upper stage.

Either that or they're preparing to put NH on that spin table for its "wet" spin balance testing, planned for tomorrow and Wednesday.

Oh, and this article should annoy you a bit (unless you agree with the guy):

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJour...OPN45120405.htm

[hal_9000]

I'm sorry... I don't have the schedule of NH processing..

[helvick]

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJour...OPN45120405.htm

Nasty article. I really get cheesed off with people who deliberately distort data in this way and choose to ignore far more significant and genuine threats.

There are valid concerns related to plutonium but of all the possible things to do with the damn stuff, sticking it on a nice big fat rocket and sending it to the outer solar system where it can help do stuff that contributes in some way to the betterment of all mankind is probably the single smartest thing you can do with it.

[hal_9000]

Oh, and this article should annoy you a bit (unless you agree with the guy):

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJour...OPN45120405.htm

I'm not against use of the nuclear energy and I think that the use of the nuclear energy currently in space activities incases perfectly in the use of RTGs, MMRTGs.
I can not see other form to acess deep space if not with RTGs.

Nuclear energy is a potential and we have to use it.

http://www.nuclearspace.com/

[JRehling]

I admit to being quite interested in the odd tumbling of Hyperion and wanted some more examples for study.  Hyperion being in a resonance with Titan, and the  new Pluto moons apparently being in resonance with Charon, I was cautiously hoping for a 'toe in the door' for some more chaotically tumbling objects.  I have thought that direct overhead sunlight exposure might explain the dark bottom craters of Hyperion, and another object or two in a similar state  might help pin down some theories.

Tide lock predictions for the new moons would be useful for theoretical work, too.

If I may ask, did your equation generate times to tide lock for various bodies?

I have speculated that tide lock for Iapetus was very slow to occur, but I have no idea if thousand, millions or billions of years is the actual number.

Just because the new moons seem to be in orbital resonance, of course, doesn't mean they are in rotational resonance. Pluto is in orbital resonance with Neptune, but this has no visible impact on Pluto's rotation.

My equation simply lumped a few "lock-causing" factors together and thus measured the tendency to lock. Whether or not a world would be locked would also depend upon the internal structure (unknowably variable), the initial angular momentum (unknowable). Basically, it produced large values for Io and tiny values for Pluto and values in the middle for, eg, Hyperion, Mercury, and Iapetus. But for all we know, felicitous impacts braked Iapetus to a halt before tides had a chance to step in. Alternatively, it might have started at a spin so fast that it almost flew apart. Because we can't know the initial rotation, we could never pinpoint how long it took Iapetus to brake.

[hal_9000]

Yeah.. it's seems other spin test..

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[Redstone]

Some more good news, the Atlas V successfully completed the countdown dress rehearsal. No problems reported.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av010/status.html

Note the frosting on the booster from the LOX.

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[punkboi]

I'm sorry... I don't have the schedule of NH processing..

Sorry, if I might've sounded like a smart aleck. It was unintentional



And here's the schedule as posted by another member:

Dec 6-7 "Wet" spin balance testing
Dec 9 Mating of NH and 3rd Stage
Dec 12 Encapsulation of NH stack inside fairing
Dec 16 Transport of stack to pad.

Jan 11 Launch scheduled for 2:11 PM EST