Pluto flyby: New Horizons

[Flyaway]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1340980084308668418

View: https://twitter.com/AlanStern/status/1340980084308668418

#PI_Daily TODAY (!!) @New_Horizons2015 begins a 10 day observing sequence to study five new, distant Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) with our onboard instruments, measuring their shapes, rotation periods, surface properties, and looking for their satellites. #Space #NASA #Science

 

[Flyaway]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1343187323526123520

View: https://twitter.com/plutoport/status/1343187323526123520

New Horizons currently sending TLM to Earth and all is well. Observations of newly discovered KBOs 2020KO11, P4856186, and 2020 KT11 have taken place as well as a look towards Voyager1. Next up: 2020KP11 and 2020KR11.

 

[FighterJock]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1343187323526123520

View: https://twitter.com/plutoport/status/1343187323526123520

New Horizons currently sending TLM to Earth and all is well. Observations of newly discovered KBOs 2020KO11, P4856186, and 2020 KT11 have taken place as well as a look towards Voyager1. Next up: 2020KP11 and 2020KR11.

Good to hear that New Horizons is alive and well, also good news that it has discovered two new KBO's.

 

[Hobbes]

the wording's a bit ambiguous. Those KBOs were discovered from Earth: the Subaru telescope is doing a survey of possible targets for another New Horizons flyby. NH is doing followup observations.

 

[FighterJock]

the wording's a bit ambiguous. Those KBOs were discovered from Earth: the Subaru telescope is doing a survey of possible targets for another New Horizons flyby. NH is doing followup observations.

I did not know that the Subaru telescope was doing a survey for New Horizons to aid a possible future flyby, thanks Hobbes.

 

[Archibald]

I wonder if Alice Bowman has a David in her family...

 

[Flyaway]

Like Titan, Pluto’s atmosphere is hazy, but for a different reason

Simple organic ices dominate, rather than bigger organic molecules.

arstechnica.com

 

[Flyaway]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1343321074684071937

View: https://twitter.com/alanstern/status/1343321074684071937

#PI_Daily Did you know? @NewHorizons2015 is moving faster than both Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 and will overtake them in about 2217 (at ~640 AU) and 2118 (at ~340 AU), respectively! (1 AU=The distance from the Earth to the Sun, 93 million miles) #NASA #Science #Space

 

[FighterJock]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1343321074684071937

View: https://twitter.com/alanstern/status/1343321074684071937

#PI_Daily Did you know? @NewHorizons2015 is moving faster than both Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 and will overtake them in about 2217 (at ~640 AU) and 2118 (at ~340 AU), respectively! (1 AU=The distance from the Earth to the Sun, 93 million miles) #NASA #Science #Space

Interesting, so in 2217 NewHorizons will become the new most distant man made object launched from Earth.

 

[Hobbes]

no. Voyager 1 and 2 are faster than New Horizons, Voyager 1 will remain the most distant man made object launched from Earth. There are some 'interstellar probe' studies which could result in a spacecraft that's much faster than the Voyagers (IIRC 2-4 times the speed was the goal).

 

[FighterJock]

no. Voyager 1 and 2 are faster than New Horizons, Voyager 1 will remain the most distant man made object launched from Earth. There are some 'interstellar probe' studies which could result in a spacecraft that's much faster than the Voyagers (IIRC 2-4 times the speed was the goal).

Oops, forgot about Voyager's 1 & 2 being faster, of course Voyager 1 had that massive kick out of the Solar System when it tried to get pictures of Titan.

 

[Grey Havoc]

From December 2019:

Scientists plan a new orbiter mission to Pluto

Researchers already are planning an ambitious spacecraft that will orbit the mysterious world.

astronomy.com

 

[chimeric oncogene]

From December 2019:

Scientists plan a new orbiter mission to Pluto

Researchers already are planning an ambitious spacecraft that will orbit the mysterious world.

astronomy.com

Uranus and neptune orbiters should have far higher priority, as should a Chiron flyby to study the transition between KBO and short period comet, but one can always hope for all three.

 

[Flyaway]

From December 2019:

Scientists plan a new orbiter mission to Pluto

Researchers already are planning an ambitious spacecraft that will orbit the mysterious world.

astronomy.com

Uranus and neptune orbiters should have far higher priority, as should a Chiron flyby to study the transition between KBO and short period comet, but one can always hope for all three.

The problem for the Pluto orbiter is it is really only possible with something like nuclear electric propulsion.

 

[Grey Havoc]

The problem for the Pluto orbiter is it is really only possible with something like nuclear electric propulsion.

You think that a nuclear electric propulsion option will not be approved in the current political climate?

 

[Hobbes]

The JHUAPL mission design assumes an ion engine driven by a slightly-larger RTG, no new development needed.

 

[Flyaway]

The big thing for a Pluto orbiter is not launching or travel but stopping at the other end

 

[Flyaway]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1363474942612807683

View: https://twitter.com/alanstern/status/1363474942612807683

#PI_Daily Confirmed from the Kuiper Belt! New flight software for our SWAP solar wind spectrometer is aboard the @NewHorizons2015 instrument now and ready to produce new, high time resolution results! Testing to begin shortly! #NASA #Space #Science

 

[Flyaway]

#PI_Daily The news is out:
@NewHorizons2015
has discovered the tightest orbit binary Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) ever! This was accounted by Dr Hal Weaver in a presser today, see: https://youtube.com/watch?v=V5UudvSoE0o… We can only do this because we pass KBOs closely as we transect the belt!

View: https://youtu.be/V5UudvSoE0o

 

[Archibald]

New Horizons even if it never flybys another KBO, has turned into a kind of "kuiper belt observatory" with its camera and sensors. And since it has a RTG to keep it warm for years and decades...