Science and Space

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New Horizons Spacecraft to Pluto

New Horizons Spacecraft is ready for launching during January 11 - February 14, 2006 launch window. It is designed to help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of Pluto and Charon - a "double planet" and the last planet in our solar system to be visited by spacecraft. Then, as part of an extended mission, New Horizons would visit one or more objects in the Kuiper Belt region beyond Neptune.

The first 13 months of the journey include spacecraft and instrument checkouts, instrument calibrations, trajectory correction maneuvers, and rehearsals for the Jupiter encounter.

Closest approach to Jupiter is scheduled to occur between Feb. 25- March 2, 2007. Moving about 47,000 miles per hour (about 21 kilometers per second), New Horizons would fly 3 to 4 times closer to Jupiter than the Cassini spacecraft, coming within 31.7-32.4 Jupiter radii of the large planet.

Plans for an extended mission include one to two encounters of Kuiper Belt Objects, ranging from about 25 to 55 miles (40 to 90 kilometers) in diameter. New Horizons would acquire the same data it collected at Pluto-Charon - where applicable - and follow a timeline similar to the Pluto-Charon encounter:

The flyby of Pluto will occur in July 2015. After passing by Pluto, New Horizons will continue out into the Kuiper Belt.

posted by: kyawoo at 07:05 | link | comments |
unmanned missions, planets

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