1. 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”

2. 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

3. A Mission of Firsts

4. 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,

5. Flight Route

6. FLYBY OBJECTIVES

7. Jupiter science included studies of Jovian meteorology, satellite geology and composition, Auroral phenomena, & magnetospheric physics.

8. 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.

9. 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