New Horizons

[Frida Space]

Ok thanks for the correction! :-)

[ChrisSpace]

I have literally waited years for this, 'cant wait to see what the surface looks like. Perhaps a cross between the moon and Europa?

[jerdrb]

The idea of a close up photo (relatively to what we had previously) is dumbfounding to me. Being millions of miles away to take a photo. This photo however, will change how we view the formation of planets and our solar system. Can't wait to see this distant body.

[Fr8monkey]

Only 10 weeks away from today till encounter...

Edited May 5, 2015 by Fr8monkey

[Frida Space]

Finally, Kerberos and Styx! From 10s LORRI exposures between Apr 25 & May 1

[Scotius]

This is going to be exciting year in astronomy Great pictures of Ceres, and first photos of Pluto made by a probe.

[Beduino]

Only 10 weeks away from today till encounter...

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/whereisnh/PlutoFlyby/nhpf20150501_0115.svg

I captured this video recently

It shows New Horizons Pluto Approach - Flyby Phase Simulation as seen in Eyes on the Solar System - NASA http://eyes.nasa.gov

Watch and relax at the far reaches of the solar system.

[Pluto100]

This has basically taken up the entirety of my life since it was launched in 2006, and I have been patiently waiting until now. 10 weeks seems like forever compared to all of those years... I can't wait for this! (It's a shame it was downgraded from being a huge project. At least we got something, right?)

[Frida Space]

A cool infrographic in Italian about New Horizons' current trajectory through the Pluto system. Should be pretty straightforward: from right to left,

closest Pluto approach (12500 km, 13.78 km/s, P+0)

closest Charon apporach (28800 km, 13.87 km/s, P+3 min, 56 s)

Pluto-Sun occultation (P+1 h, 1 min, 28 s)

Pluto-Earth occultation (P+1 h, 2 min, 30 s)

Charon-Sun occultation (P+2h, 27 min, 53 s)

Charon-Earth occultation (P+2 h, 29 min, 3 s)

Really shows how fast paced things will be. Sun-NH-Earth angle, as shown, is 0.24 degrees. Taken from www.pollucenotizie.com

Shouldn't even be saying this, but obviously everything up here is subject to heavy changes.

Edited May 21, 2015 by Frida Space

[Meithan]

I captured this video recently

It shows New Horizons Pluto Approach - Flyby Phase Simulation as seen in Eyes on the Solar System - NASA http://eyes.nasa.gov

Watch and relax at the far reaches of the solar system.

Wow, thanks for posting this video, I loved it. It's cool to see how the instruments are programmed to be looking at different targets during the flyby.

[Beduino]

This has basically taken up the entirety of my life since it was launched in 2006, and I have been patiently waiting until now. 10 weeks seems like forever compared to all of those years... I can't wait for this! (It's a shame it was downgraded from being a huge project. At least we got something, right?)

Do you mean that you work in New Horizons project? Please explain, downgraded from being a huge project?

Seriously i'm interested, or at least my Engineer side and astronomer geek is.

- - - Updated - - -

Wow, thanks for posting this video, I loved it. It's cool to see how the instruments are programmed to be looking at different targets during the flyby.

The only thing better is the real deal in couple of weeks and yeah probably better with music and easier to watch instead of running the nasa app

[Frida Space]

Please explain, downgraded from being a huge project?

I'm guessing they had problems with funding and so they had very strict budget/mass/schedule constraints? That's the explanation I've heard for why they don't have a magnetometer on board, at least. Let's wait for @Pluto100's reply.

[LordFerret]

I think you'll find your answer on that in here (just search for 'magnetometer')...

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2igklm/hi_i_am_alan_stern_head_of_nasas_new_horizons/

[Frida Space]

May 8th-12th, 77-75.000.000 km away

I find this last image particularly similar to what I imagined Pluto would have looked like, maybe cause it's kinda like Hubble's ones.

[Camacha]

A cool infrographic in Italian about New Horizons' current trajectory through the Pluto system. Should be pretty straightforward: from right to left,

Edited May 27, 2015 by Camacha

[Frida Space]

It feels like it is such a waste to have a long mission, only to zip by the system in literally minutes. We do not even get a full rotation/day at close distance. It would be so lovely to have a more permanent type missions to Pluto. As a representative of the trans-Neptunian object (and a long time friend in the solar system) it could learn us plenty.

In fact, the only thing I'm worried about is if New Horizons gets a glimpse of something rather mysterious (see Ceres' bright spots) and we aren't able to fully understand what it is, and we would have to wait tens of years to get back to Pluto, if we ever will in our lifetimes. That actually scares me almost so much that part of me would just like to cover my ears and completely ignore New Horizon's encounter

[Ralathon]

It feels like it is such a waste to have a long mission, only to zip by the system in literally minutes. We do not even get a full rotation/day at close distance. It would be so lovely to have a more permanent type missions to Pluto. As a representative of the trans-Neptunian object (and a long time friend in the solar system) it could learn us plenty.

New Horizons is zipping through the pluto system at close to 13km/s. That's a ridiculous amount of dV to slow down.

[Motokid600]

Yea if we wanted to brake into orbit I'd be an old man before NH got there.

[Camacha]

New Horizons is zipping through the pluto system at close to 13km/s. That's a ridiculous amount of dV to slow down.

Like I said, I understand why it is done how it is done, though we probably also should not pretend that this mission profile it the only option. Possibly the best option within the budget, but that is another matter and discussion completely.

[Meithan]

New Horizons is zipping through the pluto system at close to 13km/s. That's a ridiculous amount of dV to slow down.

Like I said, I understand why it is done how it is done, though we probably also should not pretend that this mission profile it the only option. Possibly the best option within the budget, but that is another matter and discussion completely.

You guys probably know this, but it's important for people to realize that the main difficulty with a mission to Pluto is not really the ÃŽâ€v: a Hohmann transfer to Pluto (taking its average distance to the Sun) is about as expensive as a transfer to Saturn (15.5 km/s). The spacecraft construction and launch costs are thus comparable to those of the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn.

The problem is time. A Hohmann transfer to Pluto takes about 45 years. On the one hand we don't know if a spacecraft can remain operational for that long (the Voyagers are about to hit 40, and that's way more than anybody expected at the time; the Pioneers weren't so lucky). On the other hand, it's also a social problem due to human timescales. By the time the craft reached its destination most of the project leads would be retired or even dead. It would require multi-generational planning, logistics and funding. The ÃŽâ€v becomes a problem only because the transit time is a big problem in the first place.

Edited May 28, 2015 by Meithan

[Camacha]

You guys probably know this, but it's important for people to realize that the main difficulty with a mission to Pluto is not really the ÃŽâ€v: a Hohmann transfer to Pluto (taking its average distance to the Sun) is about as expensive as a transfer to Saturn (15.5 km/s). The spacecraft construction and launch costs are thus comparable to those of the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn.

The problem is time. A Hohmann transfer to Pluto takes about 45 years. On the one hand we don't know if a spacecraft can remain operational for that long (the Voyagers are about to hit 40, and that's way more than anybody expected at the time; the Pioneers weren't so lucky). On the other hand, it's also a social problem due to human timescales. By the time the craft reached its destination most of the project leads would be retired or even dead. It would require multi-generational planning, logistics and funding. The ÃŽâ€v becomes a problem only because the transit time is a big problem in the first place.

Exactly, so it is not really about time, or not just about time. You need to spend a lot more ÃŽâ€v to get there quicker, as financiers would want a chance of success within their lifetime, making the mission quite a bit more expensive.

[Streetwind]

And that's why we really need a compact, lightweight, long-lived and high-output power source for spaceflight. We have the engine Isp's for insanely high dV missions... we just don't have a way to power these engines.

Whether or not the EM-drive ends up real, the future of space propulsion beyond Mars and Venus is electric. Chemical EDS to get the thing moving out of Earth orbit ASAP, and then constant electric engine operation for a high energy transfer to orbit the target after a greatly shortened trip.

[Awaras]

So it is going to be facing Pluto's dark side as it flies by? Couldn't they have aimed it so it passes the day side instead?

[pincushionman]

I brought this up in another thread - part of the reason for the high-speed mission is because while Pluto-Charon is inside Neptune's orbit, it has an atmosphere, but further away, that freezes. That window is closing. So there was a literal time crunch and the probe had to get there now, since the next opportunity to study the atmosphere in any detail isn't ten years away, but possibly more than two hundred.

[Frida Space]

So it is going to be facing Pluto's dark side as it flies by? Couldn't they have aimed it so it passes the day side instead?

Pluto will be larger than the LORRI field of view for at least 24 hours around close encounter, so it doesn't really matter - we're still going to get very high res. Plus, New Horizons' top priority is surviving the flyby, the science actually comes second as 99.x% of it will be transmitted back to Earth only well after the encounter (the last images/data will be returned in late 2016). So first you want a trajectory that is safe, then one that is actually science-rich. The current one is the perfect mix, if we were to find new moons/debris rings however we would have to change it.

I brought this up in another thread - part of the reason for the high-speed mission is because while Pluto-Charon is inside Neptune's orbit, it has an atmosphere, but further away, that freezes. That window is closing. So there was a literal time crunch and the probe had to get there now, since the next opportunity to study the atmosphere in any detail isn't ten years away, but possibly more than two hundred.

^ Very true. Also, as Pluto is now heading towards apoapsis, launching in a few decades instead of now would also take longer. And, as someone pointed out above, time is everything, especially when you're so far away from Earth.