New Horizons Pluto/KBO MissionHal Weaver

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

To Pluto and Beyond

Pluto-CharonJuly 2015

KBOs2016-2020

Jupiter SystemFeb-March 2007

The Initial Reconnaissance of The Solar SystemThe Initial Reconnaissance of The Solar System’’s s ““Third ZoneThird Zone””

LaunchJan 2006

PI: Alan Stern

New Horizons: OverviewNew Horizons was one of the consortia proposals submitted for NASA’s January 2001 request for mission proposals to flyby Pluto-Charon and the Kuiper Belt

New Horizons was selected by NASA on 29 Nov 2001

New Horizons was funded and approved to enter into full-scale development in March 2003

New Horizons was later designated New Frontiers 1

Science Team:PI: Alan SternFran BagenalRick BinzelBonnie BurattiAndy ChengDale CruikshankRandy GladstoneWill GrundyDave HinsonMihaly HoranyiDon JenningsIvan LinscottJeff MooreDave McComasBill McKinnonRalph McNuttScott MurchieCathy OlkinCarolyn PorcoHarold ReitsemaDennis ReuterDave SlaterJohn SpencerDarrell StrobelMike SummersLen TylerHal WeaverLeslie Young

New Horizons Project TeamSwRI and APL Teamed to Lead the Project

SwRI leads the science team and payload and is the PI institutionAPL leads mission development & operations

With Major Team Partners:Ball for the Ralph instrumentNASA/GSFC for the LEISA IR focal planeStanford for the REX radio science investigationLockheed-Martin as the Atlas V ELVBoeing as the STAR-48B upper stage supplierDept of Energy for the RTGJPL for DSN, Technical Analyses, & CoI support KinetX for Navigation

And a Pluto-Kuiper Belt Science Team:28 members, various institutions

NH Mission Management

Launch 2006 January 19 14:00 EST

• Launched on Atlas V 551- Nearly perfect trajectory- Fastest Earth departure ever (36,000 mph = 58,000 km/hr)- Passed Moon’s orbit in 9 hours- Pass orbits of:

o Mars on 4/7/2006o Jupiter on 2/28/2007o Saturn on 6/8/2008 o Uranus on 3/18/2011o Neptune on 8/24/2014

• Pluto system encounter on 7/14/2015• Total S/C mass = 478 kg (1054 lb)

- 77 kg (170 lb) of hydrazine- 30 kg (66 lb) of science payload

• 200 W power from RTG at Pluto• Total Cost ~$710M (FY08)

New Horizons Launch Vehicle200 ft

New Horizons Year-by-Year

L. Young

New Horizons Now

New Horizons Science Instruments

NH Spacecraft & Instruments2.1 meters

New Horizons Jupiter EncounterEncounter Closest Approach:2007 Feb 28 05:43:40 UTC

At Distance of 32 RJ2.3 million km1.4 million miles(1 RJ = 71,400 km)

20% Speed Boost

NH Flyby results published in in 2007 October 12 issue of Science

• Nine Paperso Mesoscale Waveso Ammonia Cloudso Polar Lightningo Io Volcanism & Atmosphereo Rings & Thingso Magnetotail

• Perspective• Editor’s Comment• Cover

Little Red Spot paper in Astronomical Journal

NASA Space Science UpdateNASA press conferenceSpecial DPS sessionSpecial Fall AGU session

NASA Jupiter Data Analysis AO released in Feb 2008

The Pluto Quadruple System

Combination of Four Hubble ACS ImagesTaken on 2006 Feb 15.6 UT

12.5

"

Pluto

Charon

Nix Hydra

286,000 km

But Progress Will Be Limited Until We Visit

This is the fundamental historical lesson of planetary exploration

Earth’s Moon at theSame Resolution

Earth’s Moon at5 km per pixel

New Horizons Pluto Encounter

NH Pluto Science Objectives

Mandatory Science Floor

Highly Desirable

Bonus

NH Science Team has added similar Nix and Hydra objectives at one level lower priority (e.g., Nix geology is Group 2)

Encounter HighlightsApproximately 7 months of encounter science at PlutoExceed Hubble resolution for almost 3 monthsMap entire sunlit areas of Pluto and CharonMake global composition maps of Pluto and CharonMap Pluto and Charon surface temperaturesDirectly measure Pluto’s atmosphere: its escape rate, its pressure and temperature, its composition and search for hazesImprove interior structure models and determine if either Pluto or Charon is differentiatedObtain high resolution images of Nix and HydraMake compositional measurements of Nix and HydraLocate additional Pluto-system satellites and search for rings

The most exciting discoverieswill likely be the ones we

never anticipated

New Horizons “Firsts”First mission to PlutoFirst since launch Voyager in 1977 to an unexplored planetFirst mission to explore a double planetFirst mission to explore an ice dwarfFirst mission to study Kuiper Belt ObjectsFastest space mission ever launchedFirst PI-led outer planets missionFirst planetary mission to carry a student built instrumentFirst outer planets mission led by APL and SwRI

NH Space Science Reviews Volume

New Horizons Web Site http://pluto.jhuapl.edu

Backup

Simulated LORRI global maps produced during Pluto approach

Earth’s moon is used tocreate simulated images

Contour map shows predicted resolution

J. Spencer

Pluto Encounter Geometry

To Sun

Pluto Encounter Geometry

To Sun

Sub-solar position(-49.4°, 30.7°)

Equator

Sun terminator

Y

North PoleZ

Sun’s Shadow

Prime Meridian

X

To SpacecraftSub-spacecraft position 10 days before C/A

Pluto at Approach • Sunlit in southern

hemisphere & dark in northern cap

• New Horizons approaches Pluto from southern hemisphere

• Solar phase angle at approach is 15°

• Pluto makes one rotation every 6.4 Earth days

New Horizons Ground Track on Pluto

at Closest Approach

Sub-solar Position at C/A