New Horizons NASA’ Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission A NASA New Frontiers Mission “The First Mission to the Ninth Planet And the Solar System’s Third Zone”
New Horizons Mission Launched on Jan. 19, 2006 Passed the Moon in 9 hrs. Jupiter flyby 13 months later, Feb. 28, 2007 – closest approach Gravitational assist Reduced the trip by 3 yrs Pluto closest encounter operations begin April 12, 2015 July 14, 2015 Pluto closest approach
A Mission of Firsts
Why Study Pluto? An ice dwarf planet, common to the deep outer solar system. Pluto-Charon is the solar system’s only known binary planet, with implications for atmospheric transfer and for better understanding of how the Earth-Moon system formed. Chance to observe planetary hydrodynamic escape of the atmosphere, Process believed to have shaped Earth’s primordial atmospheric loss. Surface history of outer solar system bombardment. Comparing Pluto’s with Charon’s - direct comparison of present-day & historical impacts. Pluto’s surface is considered “young” due to continual sublimation and condensation of frost Charon’s is “old.” due to the apparent lack of atmosphere,
Flight Route
FLYBY OBJECTIVES
Jupiter science included studies of Jovian meteorology, satellite geology and composition, Auroral phenomena, & magnetospheric physics.
Discovery and Dataset Goals 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.
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