[X] My Assistant

[Guest_Oersted_*]

So, from what I gather, NH will pass by Pluto at a speed of around 14 km/s. I know it won't be able to slow down in any way, and will continue into deep space afterwards, but is a substantial course change envisaged at Pluto, or will it fly by so far away that the course change will be negligible?

I realise that the instruments must be optimised for a pass at a certain distance, but what distance is that and could it possible by reduced with no ill effects?

It would be mindblowing if a low pass over Pluto could be planned so that NH will fly close by Charon as well, wouldn't it? - Or maybe even - to go really out on a limb - a few high-speed figure 8's around both bodies, before the probe continues on its merry way. Would that even be physically possible?

At least I'm not suggesting aero-braking if Pluto turns out to have a tenuous atmosphere.

[siravan]

Looking at the encounter image, it seems that the trajectory is designed such that at closest distance to Pluto, NH is essentially 180 degree off Charon. I guess the design has scarified imaging resolution for the chance of doing radio science during occlusions. Is this the main reason or are there other considerations that forced the trajectory to be where it is? Also, is it possible for Pluto to have any rings (vis-a-vis Rhea)? And if so, is there any planning to look for them (long exposures and such)?

[brellis]

To rephrase the original question:

Kuiper Belt Objects are really far apart. There's not much chance of an accidental close encounter with a KBO, but theoretically a juicy one might be discovered in time for a trajectory change to provide a targeted encounter. If such a discovery were to be made, could the trajectory be altered to point NH differently after the Pluto encounter?

[dmuller]

There's not much chance of an accidental close encounter with a KBO ... could the trajectory be altered to point NH differently after the Pluto encounter?

I recall reading somewhere (sorry memory lapse, cant recall where that was) that the search for KBOs will be focused to take place nearer to the Pluto encounter, because by then the KBO that could be reached would well be in a very small area of the sky around & beyond Pluto, guess near the 1 degree cone mentioned in an earlier post, since they move very slow as well.

Any trajectory adjustment will likely be using engine firing. Of the 3 criteria for a swing-by that I know of (orbital speed, mass and density), Pluto fares extremely bad in the first two.