NEW HORIZONS NASA’s Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission: “The First Mission To the Ninth Planet And the Solar System’s Third Zone”  XXXX Days Since Launch  XXXX Days Still To Pluto

Pluto was discovered in January- February 1930, by Clyde Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory, Arizona. Pluto: A Little Background  Pluto is a Small, Distant World  <1% Mars’s Max Apparent Diameter (0.1 arcsec)  And 50,000 times fainter than Mars (V~14)

An Historic Journey Pluto-Charon July 2015 KBOs Jupiter System March 2007 The Initial Reconnaissance of The Solar System’s “Third Zone” Launch Jan 2006

A MISSION OF FIRSTS

Pluto-Charon: What We Know The Best Hubble Images of Pluto Are Still Crude

But Now We Know The System is a Quadruple

PLUTO-KUIPER BELT EXPLORATION A Reconnaissance Expedition To Pluto-Charon & the Kuiper Belt The Highest Priority Medium-Scale Mission New Start Of The Planetary Decadal Survey

SO WE PROPOSED IT, WON IT,AND BUILT IT

SCIENTIFIC PAYLOAD Instruments:  REX radio science & radiometry  RALPH VIS/IR imaging & spectroscopy  ALICE UV imaging spectroscopy  LORRI High-resolution imager  SWAP plasma spectrometer  PEPSSI energetic particle spectrometer  SDC EPO Student Dust Counter

OUR ATLAS V 551 LAUNCH VEHICLE Centaur Interstage Adapter (12.5 ft Dia) CCB Cylindrical Interstage Adapter RD-180 Engine Common Core Booster TM (CCB) Single RL10 Engine Centaur Upper Stage 5-meter Short Payload Fairing (68 ft) Solid Rocket Boosters Aft Transition Skirt/Heat Shield 5-Meter Payload Fairing Boattail Centaur Aft Stub Adapter Centaur Forward Load Reactor Payload Adapter (PLA) Centaur Conical Interstage Adapter

FINISHING TOUCHES

ALL DRESSED UP AND READY TO FLY

LAUNCH: 19 JAN 2006 GOING SUPERSONIC!

ROUTE OF FLIGHT

JUPITER FLYBY Jupiter science included studies of Jovian meteorology, satellite geology and composition, Auroral phenomena, and magnetospheric physics. C/A Date28 Feb 2007 Range32 R Jupiter

FLYBY OBJECTIVES

SUCCESS: NEW RESULTS

AND WE OBSERVED IO ERUPTIONS GALORE  At least 11 volcanic Plumes were detected.  We obtained the most detailed view ever of a plume on Io.  Tvashtar is near Io’s North pole: always visible.  Tvashtar stretches ~340 km above the surface. Tvashtar Prometheus Masubi Io night side illuminated by Jupiter

TVASHTAR MOVIE  5 frames  8 minutes

TVASHTAR MOVIE  5 frames  8 minutes

TVASHTAR MOVIE  5 frames  8 minutes

TVASHTAR MOVIE  5 frames  8 minutes

TVASHTAR MOVIE  5 frames  8 minutes

TVASHTAR MOVIE  5 frames  8 minutes  First direct measurements of plume dynamics.  Ejection speed ~1 km/sec.  Acceleration during descent.  Apparently non-ballistic trajectories.

AND FINALLY, MAGNETOTAIL EXPLORATION Flying down Jupiter’s deep magnetotail to perform the first traverse through a giant planet’s magnetotail. ~300 R J Equatorial Plane Noon-Midnight Plane R J Former Terra Incognita

UNEXPLAINED PLASMA QUASI-PERIODICITIES A 10 hour period at 450 R J !

Farwell Jupiter

CRUISE 2 OVERVIEW PS-Hibernation PS-Normal PS-TCM AS-Normal AS-TCM AS-EA AS-SA 3A-Normal 3A-Encounter 3A-TCM

NEXT UP: IN 2015: WHAT WE CAME FOR  Jan-Mar: Observatory Phase  April: Begin Approach Phase  14 July: Closest Approach  Aug-Dec: Data Downlink

REVOLUTIONARY DATASETS  Six months of encounter science.  Exceed Hubble resolution for months.  Map Pluto and all three satellites.  Make composition maps of Pluto and Charon.  Map surface temperature fields.  Directly measure Pluto’s escape rate.  Assay Pluto’s atmospheric structure and composition.  Determine if either Pluto or Charon differentiated.  Locate additional satellites. The most exciting discoveries will likely be the ones we Don’t anticipate.

ANTICIPATE DRAMATIC RESULTS Triton & Pluto At Best HST Resolution Triton from Voyager

AND THEN ON TO KBOs LATE IN THE NEXT DECADE

ONLY AMERICA CAN DO THIS

BACKUP SLIDES

INSTRUMENT PAYLOAD