New Horizons I (and II!) Mission Update Thread

[jmilsom]

Being on the other side of the world I am a bit late on this one. But worth bumping the thread to acknowledge this great discovery. Philotas has already started a specific discussion thread focussing on the new moons in the SS&A forum.<br /><br />From New Horizons Mission News:<br /><br /><b>New Moons over Pluto</b><br />Pluto and Charon: You are not alone. Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to view the ninth planet in our solar system, astronomers discovered Pluto may have not one, but three moons. If confirmed, the discovery of the two new moons could offer insights into the nature and evolution of the Pluto system; Kuiper Belt Objects with satellite systems; and the early Kuiper Belt.<br /><br />Here are the various links:<br />SDC news: here <br />Philotas' thread: here <br />John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab News Release: here <br />NASA News Release: here <br />Best info and detailed background to the discovery is on the Boulder SWRI site: here <br /><br /><font color="orange"> Days 71 Hours 04 Mins 11 Secs 44 - until opening of primary launch window </font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[pale_blue_dave]

Rocket science is not my strong point, so I'm wondering... Will it be possible to do any close flybys of either of these new moons?

 

[comga]

The trajectory past Pluto and Charon is fixed by the plan to fly through their shadows to perform occultation science, with the radio link and Alice, I believe. That said, the observation plans will definitely be modified to observe them with one or more of the imagers on board: LORRI, Ralph, and Alice. Check out the diagrams at <br /><br />http://www.boulder.swri.edu/plutonews/<br /><br />which includes this statement on the orbits:<br /><br />... the orbital semi-major axes of P1 and P2 are near 64,700 +/- 850 and 49,500 +/- 600 km..<br /><br />At 65,000 km from Pluto, until about 24 hours away from closest approach, both moons will have to be within the field of view of Ralph whenever it takes an image, even if they are not specifically targeting the moons. At about a month out, the distance will be roughly 50 million km, and the moons will be about 13th magnitude. Without knowing the limiting magnitude for either instrument, one would suppose that objects this bright should be detectable by sensitive cameras. (You can almost see 13th magnitude by eye with a telescope the size of LORRI.) They are going to get a lot of images in that time We will have to wait (possibly a decade) to see the minimum distance from which images can be taken.

 

[comga]

Here is a staus report from Alan Stern as of October 28<br /><br />Highlights over the past week include:<br /> * MSIM #4 Pt 1 completed Oct. 21<br /> * KSC closed on Oct. 23 and re-opened on Oct. 25 due to Hurricane Wilma. The Spacecraft was put into its shipping container in accordance with the New Horizons Hurricane Plan. No damage occurred to the Spacecraft or GSE despite a small amount of water making its way into the PHSF. Schedule picked up where it left off. Additional shifts will be used to retain Schedule Reserve.<br /> * The Spacecraft was cleaned prior to beginning the installation of blankets, which will continue into next week.<br /> * RTG Pre-Ship Review was held Oct. 27; RTG will arrive at KSC in time to meet its need date.<br /> * Launch Vehicle news: Winds from Hurricane Wilma damaged the VIF mega door. KSC and LM are assessing the damage. The date of the Launch Vehicle Readiness Review continues to show as 11/14, so any time lost is assumed to be made up between now and then.<br /> * Activities during the coming week include: MSIM #4 Part 2 (testing with DSN MILA); completion of Autonomy scenario testing; Blanket dressing; a two-day Science Team Meeting at KSC; and, a media day at KSC on Nov. 4

 

[jmilsom]

Yes. It has really come at a great time this discovery, just a few months before the launch. And it seems, from your description, that it will be possible to get at least some images of these new moons as the probe approaches Pluto. Thanks for the detailed status report - hope you can keep providing further specifics as NH1 heads towards launch!<br /><br /><font color="orange">Days 70 Hours 22 Mins 31 Secs 33 - until opening of primary launch window</font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[vogon13]

It would simplify mission design greatly (in regards to the observing timeline of the New Horizons craft) if it turns out the 2 new satellites are in fact in resonant orbits with Charon.<br /><br />The satellites positions all 'repeat' every ~77 days. Every 12 revolutions of Charon, 3 of the inner, and 2 of the outer would line up everything the same way relative to Pluto.<br /><br />Considering the spread of possible arrival times I've seen, these new discoveries shouldn't, by themselves, cause much of an impact on the probes schedule, their being no point in adjusting the arrival date more than 77 days to accomodate any possible configuration of these objects.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

And is there anything interior of Charon yet to be highlighted?<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Doesn't look there will be any mutual phenomena of these objects (occultations, eclipses, etc)<br />for a hundred years or so.<br /><br />Sigh.<br /><br />I wonder though if any of the high resolution magnitude observations of the Pluto/Charon mutual eclipses back 15 years or so show any secondary transits?<br /><br />Interesting to go back and look at that data set, now that we know what to look for.<br /><br />Identifying transits or eclipses of either (or both) new object from that time period would precisely locate the plane of their orbits, eccentricities and help precisely define their orbital periods.<br /><br />Knowing that there may be a record of these guys transiting the disk of Pluto is incredible good fortune if the info can be retrieved.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Hopefully, either the transit measurements can be resurrected or Hubble can pin down some diameters for these exciting new moons. I noted that on the ref'd website that the possible diameters are strongly dependent on the brightness of their surfaces.<br /><br />Which is a big unknown, maybe till New Horizons can resolve them in its cameras.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[bpcooper]

I had the privelege to go inside the clean room at the PHSF today to photograph New Horizons, and I thought I would share my photos:<br />http://www.launchphotography.com/NewHorizonsProcessing.html <br />We can also use this thread to provide updates on the launch and mission, now just over 60 days out.<br /><br />Enjoy.<br /><br />(By the way, I think it's time to start a pinned thread on NH (?)) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>-Ben</p> </div>

 

[comga]

Don't hold your breath on resurecting data on century old transits.<br /><br />On the other hand, New Horizons will get good images of the moons, with either Ralph or LORRI. If the encounter sequence is rearranged to get images within the last ten hours of closest approach to Pluto, either would be able to resolve them, getting images of over a hundred pixels on each tiny moon. Color images from Ralph would be really exciting.

 

[comga]

PS Hubble cannot resolve the moons. Resolution at at that distance is something like 200km/pixel, and the current estimate for the new moons is just over 100km each.

 

[vogon13]

Hubble can gather brightness measurements at differing wavelengths. Additionally, heat balance measurements combined with these other measurements can generate data that can provide information on surface area (and therefore, diameter), regardless of the resolving power of the Hubble. <br /><br />Additionally, Hubble could watch an object occult a star and a diameter could be derived from that data.<br /><br />Also, I don't know if this technique has ever been tried, but if Hubble's guidance was sufficiently agile, the unresolved moon image could be allowed to drift slowly across the image detector. The pattern and duration of the signals derived would constrain the possible diameters of the objects.<br /><br />Also, the occultation data was generated in the 1990s with presumably state of the art equipment, not 'a century ago'.<br /><br />Other than that, your points are well taken.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[spacester]

Ooooooh, what a pretty spacecraft!<br /><br />Thanks for the pix, BPCooper, those are awesome! Great captions, too, very nice work. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[teije]

Awesome pictures! <br />For a moment there, I was naievely thinking that the RTG was already installed. <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><br />Happily enough for BPCooper and all the others in the picture, it was not. <br />That brings me to a question. When and how do they install the RTG? Sounds like a rather hazardous job...<br /><br />Anyone?<br />Teije

 

[bobw]

Thanks for the great pictures. Seeing the cables which run from the satellite to the floor mat makes me wonder if New Horizons is powered up?<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bobw]

Something seems odd about the picture. Do the tie wraps go into space too? Are they holding a temporary cable? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bpcooper]

The blue cable is to an external power source. Remember, NH runs off RTGs which are not yet installed <br /><br />The ties look to be holding that blue wire in place temporarily. Thanks for the comments. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>-Ben</p> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

I just want to echo the compliments of others. Thanks for posting the excellent pictures! Great captions as well. Interesting point that one day, NH1 will be the human artifact furthest from the Earth, when it passes the four previous probes to escape the solar system.<br /><br /><font color="orange">Days 65 Hours 01 Mins 50 Secs 13 - until opening of primary launch window</font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bpcooper]

Thanks. Yea, the media hasn't noticed a few things yet...the type of things I love to figure out on my own. I am still waiting, and I keep asking, to hear the year in which it will pass Voyager 1. Time to get the calculator out! I think it will be in the second half of this century but I could be wrong. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>-Ben</p> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

There have been quite a few interesting discussions in the Space Science and Astronomy Forum on Pluto and the various Kuiper Belt Objects discovered in recent years. As the launch of NH1 approaches, some of these are worth checking out.<br /><br />Fun thread: name Pluto's moons!<br />Two more moons discovered orbiting Pluto<br />Trans-Neptunian Planets: Questions and Discussion<br />IAU looking to decide if 2003 UB313 is a major planet<br />2003 UB 313 is the lost moon of Triton<br />POLL: How many Planets in our Solar System<br />Scientists Discover 10th Planet's Moon<br />Kuiper body cigar shaped, size of Pluto<br />http://uplink.spa</safety_wrapper <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

And from the JPL mission website the following:<br /><br /><b>Pluto Programme Webcast</b><br /><br />Two free public programs in Pasadena, Calif., will offer an overview of the New Horizons mission. Dr. Bonnie Buratti, a New Horizons science team co-investigator from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will talk about the mission on Thursday evening, Nov. 17, at JPL and on Friday evening, Nov. 18, at Pasadena City College. Watch Thursday's lecture on the Web <br /><br /> Mission Webcast - Thursday 7pm PST <br /><br /><font color="orange">Days 55 Hours 03 Mins 33 Secs 33 - until opening of primary launch window</font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[henryhallam]

Does anybody know if a plaque like the ones on Voyager and Pioneer will be attached for E.T. or our great-grandchildren to read? <br /><br />Edit: Plaque, not plague! Now there's a Freudian slip.

 

[vogon13]

Doesn't sound like it.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

Earlier in the year, you were able to register your name, which would be included on a disk that will be attached to the spacecraft. I seem to recall reading that this disk would have additional information, not just names. Anyone else know? I'll see if I can find out.<br /><br />(Oh. And I do sincerely hope we are attaching a plaque rather than a plague!!! <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />)<br /><br /><font color="orange">Days 54 Hours 05 Mins 09 Secs 01 - until opening of primary launch window</font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>