New Horizons Spacecraft Approaches Pluto

[Hobbes]

NASA’s New Horizons is bringing with it the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh – its discoverer – as it cruises towards the now dwarf-planet or ‘plutoid’. The probe will be close enough on January 15 to start observing Pluto.

Clyde Tombaugh discovered the ice and rock-laden Pluto in 1930 and one of his final requests was that his ashes be sent into space. Tombaugh died on January 17, 1997. Fulfilling that wish NASA has fitted the upper deck of New Horizons probe with a small container containing Tombaugh’s ashes.
“Interned herein are remains of American Clyde W. Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto and the solar system’s ‘third zone'”, reads the inscription on the container.

Since its discovery, little is known about Pluto and the mission is hoping to find answers to fundamental questions about the 9th of our Solar System. New Horizons will be sending back close-up pictures of Pluto and information obtained from observing Pluto could also help explain the origin of life on Earth as it is believed that Kuiper belt may have delivered organic molecules, which sparked life on Earth.

Initially Pluto was classified as a planet, but in 2006 it was downgraded to a dwarf-planet or ‘plutoid’ and since then it is known as ‘asteroid number 134340’. Despite this downgrade, scientists at NASA say that the New Horizons mission is ‘incredibly important’ for the fact that it will be the first time ever that we will be able to observe Pluto and its giant moon Charon from this close.

New Horizons will begin a slow fly-past in the summer, sampling the solar wind, magnetic field, dust and atmospheric conditions and on July 14 it will be the closest to the planet. NASA says that the images sent over by New Horizons when it is closest to Pluto will “knock your socks off”.

As far as scientific instruments go, New Horizons packs a compact multicolour camera, advanced imaging infrared and ultraviolet spectrometers, two powerful particle spectrometers, a high-resolution telescopic camera, and a space-dust detector.

The Payload

Ralph – This is the Visible and infrared imager/spectrometer that provides color, composition and thermal maps.
Alice – This is an Ultraviolet imaging spectrometer that will analyze composition and structure of Pluto’s atmosphere and look for atmospheres around Charon and Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs).
REX (Radio Science EXperiment) – REX measures atmospheric composition and temperature and is also a passive radiometer.
LORRI (Long Range Reconnaissance Imager) – LORRI is a telescopic camera that will obtain encounter data at long distances, map Pluto’s farside while also providing high resolution geologic data.
SWAP (Solar Wind Around Pluto) – This is the Solar wind and plasma spectrometer that will measure atmospheric “escape rate” and observe Pluto’s interaction with solar wind.
PEPSSI (Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation) – PEPSSI is an energetic particle spectrometer that will measure the composition and density of plasma (ions) escaping from Pluto’s atmosphere.
SDC (Student Dust Counter) – SDC is built and operated by students and measures the space dust peppering the New Horizons throughout its voyage across the solar system.

 

[p238shooter]

Neat. I hope returned data is shared with the public. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[IndVet]

Neat. I hope returned data is shared with the public. Thanks for the heads up.

You can follow the mission here:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/#.VLMiziuorIZ

I've been following since launch 10 years ago.

 

[dennishoddy]

Very cool. The technology behind that project is amazing.

 

[Okie4570]

How long has it been traveling towards Pluto?

 

[Hobbes]

How long has it been traveling towards Pluto?

It was launched in January 2006.

 

[dennishoddy]

You can follow the mission here:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/#.VLMiziuorIZ

I've been following since launch 10 years ago.

Tried to down load that link, but after an hour, just deleted it. Probably my connection.

 

[briarcreekguy]

Ralph "One of these days Alice, Pow, Zoom, to the moon"!
I like the reference to the Honeymooners by naming two of the instruments Ralph and Alice

 

[Hobbes]

This time-lapse “movie” of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was recently shot at record-setting distances with the Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. The movie was made over about a week, from Jan. 25-31, 2015. It was taken as part of the mission’s second optical navigation (“OpNav”) campaign to better refine the locations of Pluto and Charon in preparation for the spacecraft’s close encounter with the small planet and its five moons on July 14, 2015.

Pluto and Charon were observed for an entire rotation of each body; a “day” on Pluto and Charon is 6.4 Earth days. The first of the images was taken when New Horizons was about 3 billion miles from Earth, but just 126 million miles (203 million kilometers) from Pluto—about 30% farther than Earth’s distance from the Sun. The last frame came 6½ days later, with New Horizons more than 5 million miles (8 million kilometers) closer.

The wobble easily visible in Pluto’s motion, as Charon orbits, is due to the gravity of Charon, about one-eighth as massive as Pluto and about the size of Texas.

The wobble easily visible in Pluto’s motion, as Charon orbits, is due to the gravity of Charon, about one-eighth as massive as Pluto and about the size of Texas.

Faint stars can be seen in background of these images. Each frame had an exposure time of one-tenth of a second, too short to see Pluto’s smaller, much fainter moons. New Horizons is still too far from Pluto and its moons to resolve surface features.

The Pluto-Charon Dance: This close up look at Pluto and Charon, taken as part of the mission’s latest optical navigation (“OpNav”) campaign from Jan. 25-31, 2015, comes from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on NASA;s New Horizons spacecraft.

The time-lapse frames in this movie were magnified four times to make it easier to see Pluto and Charon orbit around their barycenter, a mutual point above Pluto’s surface where Pluto and Charon’s gravity cancels out – this is why Pluto appears to “wobble” in space. Charon orbits approximately 11,200 miles (about 18,000 kilometers) above Pluto’s surface.

Each frame had an exposure time of one-tenth of a second, too short to see Pluto’s smaller, much fainter moons.

"These images allow the New Horizons navigators to refine the positions of Pluto and Charon, and they have the additional benefit of allowing the mission scientists to study the variations in brightness of Pluto and Charon as they rotate, providing a preview of what to expect during the close encounter in July," says Alan Stern, the New Horizons principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

 

[Hobbes]

9 more days until rendezvous.