New Horizons Pluto/KB Mission Status Report for OPAG PI Alan Stern SwRI New Horizons/New Frontiers 1 KBOs Pluto-Charon Jupiter System 2016-2020 July 2015 Feb-March 2007 Launch Jan 2006 NH SPACECRAFT AND PAYLOAD Science Team: 2.1 meters 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 John Spencer Darrell Strobel Mike Summers Len Tyler Hal Weaver Both spacecraft and payload are performing well. Leslie Young HIGH PAYLOAD FUNTIONAL REDUNDANCY JUPITER SUCCESS! WITH A BEVY OF NEW SCIENCE Crossed Uranus orbit 2011-March-18 (Same day MESSENGER entered Mercury orbit) Crossing Neptune orbit 2014-August-25 (Exactly 25 years after Voyager 2/Triton) Pluto Closest Approach 2015-July-14 (Exactly 50 years after Mariner 4/Mars) PLUTO SYSTEM ENCOUNTER: SCIENCE OBJECTIVES ENCOUNTER GEOMETRY AND NOMENCLATURE 2015 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec AP1! AP2! DP2! DP3! AP3! NEP! DP1! AP - Approach Phase, DP - Departure Phase, NEP – Near Encounter Phase MISSION STATUS • New Horizons is healthy and remains on track – The science objectives should be achieved or exceeded • Nix, Hydra, Kerberus (P4), and Styx (P5) added (new discoveries) • More data to be collected than originally planned (~7x larger) – Robust encounter timeline with built-in redundancy to ensure success – Largely complete. • Encounter Rehearsals Completed – Most intense 22 hr flyby segment successfully conducted in May 2012 (“stress test”) – P-7 to P+2 “Core Sequence” just completed successfully (July 5-14)! • Hazard Concerns Largely Mitigated (see next slides) • Conducting intensive search for KBOs that are targetable by New Horizons during extended mission – Using large ground based telescopes with Hubble follow-up PLUTO’S PLETHORA OF SATELLITES: GOOD NEWS AND BAD Hubble: May 2005 Hubble: July 2012 Pluto + 5 Moons With Names! Six for the price of one, but with strings attached. Where there are small satellites, there will be debris. A collision between mm-sized particles and the NH spacecraft moving at ~14 km/s could result in a loss of mission, but we think NH is safe on current trajectory. Names: P4 = Kerberus, P5 = Styx CONCERNS • Impact Hazards Owing to Satellite Ejecta in the System – Largely mitigated: Probability of LOM is estimated now at <0.3% – Two alternate encounters being planned (“SHBOTs”) • Pluto heliocentric ephemeris error – Recent analysis shows systematic error in ephemeris derived from visible light astrometry – This is a KBO accessibility (propellant) risk, not a mission risk – Plan to use ALMA to measure Pluto’s position relative to quasars – Reanalysis of Lowell historical plates will also help Triton from Voyager Triton & Pluto At Best HST Resolution TYAN Charon Detection July 2013 Next Week, At APL Registration remains open! http://plutoscience.jhuapl.edu Backups CRUISE 1: TO JUPITER L+60 L+365 (9wks) Instrument Calibration, (5wks) Instrument L+305 (DOY286) L+ 64 Autonomy Rel. 12d Commissioning, MVIC OpNav(L+165), Calibration & Autonomy Rel. 14 L+75 CDH 3.5 load Interference test Commissioning 3A Instr. Comm. Autonomy Rel. 13 L+253 (DOY 272) (4wks) (DOY 188) GC 4.0 load Solar 3A-Enc Instrument L+ 106 Conjunction mode c/o Autonomy Rel. 12e Calibration & Commissioning DOY 323-331 Spin Mode Instrument Calibration & L+211 (DOY 230) Commissioning CDH 4.1 load Spin Mode 5x8 2x8 5x8 2x8 3x8 2,7,9,5,3,3,3x8h/wk 2x8h/wk 3x8h/wk 2x8h/wk 7x8 3x8 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 PS-Hibernation AS-Normal 3A-Normal PS-Normal AS-TCM 3A-Encounter PS-TCM AS-EA 3A-TCM AS-SA CRUISE 2: ACROSS THE DEEP 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 (9/07-11/07) (9/08-12/08) (9/09-11/09) (9/10-11/10) (9/11-11/11) (6/12-8/12) (6/13-8/13) (6/14-8/14) Annual c/o 1 Annual c/o 2 Annual c/o 3 Annual c/o 4 Annual c/o 5 Annual c/o 6 Annual c/o 7 Annual c/o8 TCM 11 (P-5y) TCM 13 (P-3y) Enc Rehearsal TCM 15 Precess Phase in 05/29/08 PS-H Precess Precess Precess Precess 12/27/07 06/09/09 06/11/10 06/15/11 Precess Precess Precess Precess Precess 11/20/07 12/18/08 12/13/09 12/10/10 11/25/11 J+120 P-1yr P-200 Weekly Beacon, monthly TM. contact in PS-H. 2-3x8h/wk for Annual C/O 7x 8h/d for Precess TCMs in 3A-TCM or AS-TCM MID CRUISE OpNavs last annual c/o: 1 every 12hrs for 7 days PS-Hibernation AS-Normal 3A-Normal PS-Normal AS-TCM 3A-Encounter PS-TCM AS-EA 3A-TCM AS-SA SHBOT TRAJECTORIES CLOSEST APPROACH Hydra • S/C trajectory time ticks: 10 min • Occultation: center time • Position and lighting at Pluto C/A Pluto-Earth • Distance relative to body center Occultation 12:52:30 15:00 14:00 Charon Sun! 13:00 Earth! Pluto 0.24° Charon-Sun 12:00 Occultation 14:17:50 Pluto-Sun Occultation 11:00 12:51:28 Charon C/A 12:04:00 Nix New Horizons Trajectory 29,432 km Pluto C/A 13.87 km/s 11:50:00 13,695 km 13.78 km/s Orbit Period a Charon 6.4 d 19,571 km Nix 24.9 d 48,675 km Hydra 38.2 d 64,780 km .