New Horizons Pluto/KBO Mission. Hal Weaver The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

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1 New Horizons Pluto/KBO Mission Hal Weaver The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

2 KBOs To Pluto and Beyond The Initial Reconnaissance of The Solar System s Third Zone Pluto-Charon July 2015 Jupiter System Feb-March 2007 Launch Jan 2006 PI: Alan Stern

3 New Horizons: Overview Science Team: PI: Alan Stern Fran Bagenal Rick Binzel Bonnie Buratti Andy Cheng Dale Cruikshank Randy Gladstone Will Grundy Dave Hinson Mihaly Horanyi Don Jennings Ivan Linscott Jeff Moore Dave McComas Bill McKinnon Ralph McNutt Scott Murchie Cathy Olkin Carolyn Porco Harold Reitsema Dennis Reuter Dave Slater John Spencer Darrell Strobel Mike Summers Len Tyler Hal Weaver Leslie Young New 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

4 New Horizons Project Team SwRI and APL Teamed to Lead the Project SwRI leads the science team and payload and is the PI institution APL leads mission development & operations With Major Team Partners: Ball for the Ralph instrument NASA/GSFC for the LEISA IR focal plane Stanford for the REX radio science investigation Lockheed-Martin as the Atlas V ELV Boeing as the STAR-48B upper stage supplier Dept of Energy for the RTG JPL for DSN, Technical Analyses, & CoI support KinetX for Navigation And a Pluto-Kuiper Belt Science Team: 28 members, various institutions

5 NH Mission Management

6 Launch 2006 January 19 14:00 EST Launched on Atlas V 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 4/7/2006 o Jupiter on 2/28/2007 o Saturn on 6/8/2008 o Uranus on 3/18/2011 o 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)

7 New Horizons Launch Vehicle 200 ft

8 New Horizons Year-by-Year L. Young

9 New Horizons Now

10 New Horizons Science Instruments

11 NH Spacecraft & Instruments 2.1 meters

12 New Horizons Jupiter Encounter Encounter Closest Approach: 2007 Feb 28 05:43:40 UTC At Distance of 32 R J 2.3 million km 1.4 million miles (1 R J = 71,400 km) 20% Speed Boost

13 NH Flyby results published in in 2007 October 12 issue of Science Nine Papers o Mesoscale Waves o Ammonia Clouds o Polar Lightning o Io Volcanism & Atmosphere o Rings & Things o Magnetotail Perspective Editor s Comment Cover Little Red Spot paper in Astronomical Journal NASA Space Science Update NASA press conference Special DPS session Special Fall AGU session NASA Jupiter Data Analysis AO released in Feb 2008

14 The Pluto Quadruple System 286,000 km Nix Hydra 12.5" Charon Pluto Combination of Four Hubble ACS Images Taken on 2006 Feb 15.6 UT

15 But Progress Will Be Limited Until We Visit This is the fundamental historical lesson of planetary exploration Earth s Moon at the Same Resolution Earth s Moon at 5 km per pixel

16 New Horizons Pluto Encounter

17 NH Pluto Science Objectives Mandatory Science Floor Highly Desirable NH Science Team has added similar Nix and Hydra objectives at one level lower priority (e.g., Nix geology is Group 2) Bonus

18 Encounter Highlights Approximately 7 months of encounter science at Pluto Exceed Hubble resolution for almost 3 months Map entire sunlit areas of Pluto and Charon Make global composition maps of Pluto and Charon Map Pluto and Charon surface temperatures Directly measure Pluto s atmosphere: its escape rate, its pressure and temperature, its composition and search for hazes Improve interior structure models and determine if either Pluto or Charon is differentiated Obtain high resolution images of Nix and Hydra Make compositional measurements of Nix and Hydra Locate additional Pluto-system satellites and search for rings The most exciting discoveries will likely be the ones we never anticipated

19 New Horizons Firsts First mission to Pluto First since launch Voyager in 1977 to an unexplored planet First mission to explore a double planet First mission to explore an ice dwarf First mission to study Kuiper Belt Objects Fastest space mission ever launched First PI-led outer planets mission First planetary mission to carry a student built instrument First outer planets mission led by APL and SwRI

20 NH Space Science Reviews Volume

21 New Horizons Web Site

22 Backup

23 J. Spencer Simulated LORRI global maps produced during Pluto approach Earth s moon is used to create simulated images Contour map shows predicted resolution

24 Pluto Encounter Geometry To Sun

25 Pluto Encounter Geometry To Sun

26 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 Prime Meridian Equator X Sun s Shadow Z North Pole Sun terminator Y Pluto makes one rotation every 6.4 Earth days Sub-spacecraft position 10 days before C/A To Spacecraft Sub-solar position (-49.4, 30.7 )

27 New Horizons Ground Track on Pluto at Closest Approach Sub-solar Position at C/A