New Horizons I (and II!) Mission Update Thread

[jmilsom]

<font color="yellow">Among the findings that have emerged from that event were that Pluto's atmosphere remains at the higher pressure levels seen in 2002, with no sign of cooling or collapse just yet. However, an increasing amount of turbulence is being seen in Pluto's atmosphere. What that means isn't clear.</font><br /><br />I meant to comment on this further. I find the study of Pluto's atmosphere fascinating and it will be interesting to read the hypotheses put forward to explain this. The fact that its atmosphere is still at a higher pressure bodes well for atmospheric studies by the NH1 probe. It was feared Pluto's atmosphere would have frozen out by the time the probe arrived, but it looks likely that the hypothesis that there is a time lag in Pluto's temperature with increased solar distance due to the large thermal inertia of the surface (similar to Triton) may be true. Does anyone have any speculative ideas as to what would cause increased turbulence in Pluto's atmosphere at this time?<br /><br />Mission elapsed time: <br /><br /><font color="orange">Days 288 Hours 05 Minutes 54</font><br /><br />Jupiter closest approach <br /><br /><font color="orange">Days 116 Hours 04 Minutes 46</font><br /><br />Pluto closest approach!!!! <br /><br /><font color="orange">Days 3174 Hours 11 Minutes 04</font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[3488]

Perhaps geysers similar to Triton or a recent impact!! <br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[llivinglarge]

Hey, what are those dark spots on the Jupiter photo?<br /><br />Shadows? Another SL9?

 

[MeteorWayne]

Moon shadows. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

Io & Europa shadows. From Monday 1st January 2007 onwards (the official Jupiter imaging phase), the Jupiter images will get very exiting as the size of Jupiter as seen from New Horizons will balloon. <br /><br />Hopefully there will be some interesting Jovian weather to observe in addition to the predictable like the Great Red Spot, Red Spot Junior, etc.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[kane007]

2006/11/28 New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) spotted Pluto during an optical navigation test on 21-22 September.<br /><br /><b>LINKS</b><br />New Horizons mission home page<br />NASA Solar System Exploration<br />Spaceflight Now <br /><br />Pluto Closest Approach: <b> 3149 days 15 hours 35 minutes</b><br />Jupiter Closest Approach: <b> 091 days 09 hours 17 minutes </b>

 

[3488]

That is pretty cool. Less than a year travelled & already New Horizons has returned an image of Pluto. It would be good for New Horizons to 'look around' & pick out Saturn too, seeing as from the view point, the Sun will not interfere. <br /><br />I wonder how long it is until a spectrum can be obtained or when Pluto & Charon can be split or whether or not NH could spot Eris, Varuna, Quaoar or Sedna against the stars with the LORRI?? Such observations will help pin down their orbits more accurately.<br /><br />Mind you, we have a fascinating Jupiter encounter coming up in February (which I personally have had an influence on, regarding Io observations), it will be good to see Jupiter again in high definition, the Great Red Spot & other weather phenomena (oval BA aka Red Spot Junior), the moons, etc.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[brellis]

According to the folks at Johns Hopkins-Arizona, they've reduced their Jupiter science task list in favor of assuring the overall health of the craft:<br /><br /><font color="yellow">Observations of the Jupiter system are tentatively scheduled from 60 days before the closest approach (on February 28, 2007) to 120 days after. Naturally, since the primary objective of the mission is to study Pluto and Charon, calibration and testing activities take precedence over the science activities in the Jupiter period. Indeed, since getting to Pluto is the number-one concern, making sure that the gravity assist goes as planned takes precedence over any other activities at Jupiter.</font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>

 

[brandbll]

Whats that wierd start like object with a flare, at the bottom of the picture?<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="3">You wanna talk some jive? I'll talk some jive. I'll talk some jive like you've never heard!</font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Probably a star?<br />We'd have to know which way NH was looking to pin it down.<br />Judging how bright (or not) Pluto is, it would only have to be 8th or 9th (?) magnitude, and there's a lot of them <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[yg1968]

Trouble ahead?<br /><br />http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/061130_newhorizons_update.html<br /><br />This problem worries me:<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p><br />"One nagging engineering issue has already been flagged. New Horizons is using two of its 16 thrusters more than expected, Stern said. “So we’re going to have to limit our appetite and learn to fly the spacecraft a little bit differently…or we’ll use them all up before we get to Pluto.”<br /><p><hr /></p></p></blockquote>

 

[MeteorWayne]

This link did not work. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[yg1968]

Try this link:<br /><br />http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/061130_newhorizons_update.html<br /><br />It is one of the top stories today (November 30th 2006) on www.space.com<br /><br /><br />

 

[MeteorWayne]

Thanx <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[brellis]

NASA Launches Probe to Inform Pluto of Demotion <br /><br /><font color="yellow">December 18, 2006 | Issue 42•51<br />In August, the International Astronomical Union downgraded Pluto to a dwarf planet. The panel of experts met to officially redefine the characteristics of a planet. To deliver the news to the distant orb about its newly lowered status, scientists at NASA's Kennedy Space Center launched a special messenger probe in September.<br /><br />"It's tough, but we thought giving it to Pluto straight was the right thing to do," NASA Chief Engineer James Wood said. "After all, it put in 76 years as our ninth planet—it just didn't seem fair to break the news with an impersonal radio transmission beamed from Earth."<br /><br />The Consoler probe is scheduled to reach Pluto in 2016. Upon landing on the planetoid's surface, the probe will relay to Pluto the news of its demotion, then orbit the tiny celestial body and radio messages of gratitude for its eons of planetary service to convince Pluto that it is still a highly valued part of the solar system's configuration.<br /><br />"Pluto is more than 3.5 billion miles from the sun," Wood said. "Launching that probe felt like the best way to avoid alienating it any further."<br /><br />Wood said Consoler will "take pains" to explain to Pluto that the reasons for the demotion "had nothing to do with anything it did personally."<br /><br />"It was a great planet, and it will be a great dwarf planet," Wood said of Pluto's tenure. "No one is questioning its orbit around the sun, and of course Pluto's gravity and pressure gradient force is plenty sufficient to maintain hydrostatic equilibrium. Pluto still has three moons: Charon, Hydra and Nix. No one's going to take that away from it."<br /><br />Scientists at NASA have taken precautions that word of the demotion will not reach Pluto before Consoler does. The New Horizons probe, which will pass by Pluto in July 2015,</font> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>

 

[brellis]

Any n<img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />ws from the Consoler Craft? <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>

 

[disownedsky]

<p>Nothing has failed. It's just that thrusters are NH's only control actuators, and these thrusters have a large but limited number of valve cycles that they can undergo before starting to deteriorate. If two thrusters are doing more their share of the work, then they wil be in danger of failing sooner. NH spends most of its time on the way to Pluto in a "Passive Spin" control mode, in which the thrusters aren't used. However, when in an active mode, it uses sjhort pulses from the thrusters quite frequently. What Alan Stern is referring to is that the spacecraft may have to limit its active mode activities on the way to Pluto.</p><br /><p>My guess is that some clever tweaks to flight software will fix the problem, and science won't be impacted.</p>

 

[jmilsom]

New PI Perspective posted on the mission web site today. In it, Alan Stern gives an overview of the full 2007 program.<br /><br />The Jupiter oservation phase will run six months from January to June. The first activity took place yesterday being a Radio Science Experiment (REX) calibration using Jupiter.<br /><br />The New Horizons team will start posting a Jupiter "image of the week" beginning mid-January.<br /><br />Mission elapsed time:<br /> <br /><font color="orange">Days 351 Hours 05 Minutes 45</font><br /><br />Jupiter closest approach <br /><br /><font color="orange">Days 53 Hours 04 Minutes 55</font><br /><br />Pluto closest approach!!!! <br /><br /><font color="orange">Days 3111 Hours 11 Minutes 13</font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[3488]

Hi all,<br /><br />Next week new Jupiter approach images will be released from New Horizons. This week New Horizons has been scanning the heavily cratered Galilean moon Callisto in infrared.<br /><br />Whilst still about 100 million KM away, the Jupiter images obtained this week are amazing. Can't wait for the release.<br /><br />NH is in perfect working order & the thruster issue looks like a minor software glitch.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[rybanis]

I'm still marveling at the fact that NH is at Jupiter so soon. This probe moves just too damn fast! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[3488]

Very soon indeed after launch. Very impressive.<br /><br />1:30 PM EST onThursday 18th January 2007, there will be a full press conference held & the latest Jupiter images will be released, this week.<br /><br />Cannot wait. Wonder what the IR Callisto observations have revealed??<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Which just goes to show how far out the target is, since arrival is nearly a decade away!! (OK about 8 years <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> ) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[dragon04]

<font color="yellow"> This probe moves just too damn fast!</font><br /><br />One of few advantages of a fly-by mission. Don't have to worry about saving gas for deceleration and orbital insertion. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

Just wait until it pushes past 52,000MPH as a result of Jupiter flyby!<br /><br />Latest News<br /><br />Jupiter and Io on Approach<br /><br />Mission elapsed time: <br /><br /><font color="orange">Days 364 Hours 03 Minutes 33</font><br /><br />Jupiter closest approach <br /><br /><font color="orange">Days 40 Hours 07 Minutes 07</font><br /><br />Pluto closest approach!!!! <br /><br /><font color="orange">Days 3098 Hours 13 Minutes 25</font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[rybanis]

Ok, so roughly:<br /><br />250,000 (distance from earth to moon)/52,000 (MPH after the Jupiter encounter)= 4.808 hours to go from the Earth to the Moon, with the velocity that NH will have.<br /><br />Daaaang. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>