{"id":11297,"date":"2015-08-31T20:06:58","date_gmt":"2015-09-01T00:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11297"},"modified":"2015-08-31T20:06:58","modified_gmt":"2015-09-01T00:06:58","slug":"video-of-new-horizons-flyby-of-the-pluto-system-kuiper-belt-target-candidate-chosen-for-flyby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11297","title":{"rendered":"Video of New Horizons flyby of the Pluto system + Kuiper Belt target candidate chosen for flyby"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Check out this excellent animation of the <a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">New Horizons<\/a> probe flying out from earth and past Pluto:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nasa.gov\/pluto\/2015\/08\/28\/to-pluto-and-beyond-animating-new-horizons-flight-through-the-pluto-system\/\" target=\"_d\">To Pluto and Beyond: Animating New Horizons\u2019 Flight Through the Pluto System &#8211;\u00a0Pluto New Horizons<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ds_OlZnV9qk?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>===<\/p>\n<p>A\u00a0candidate\u00a0target out in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kuiper_belt\" target=\"_blank\">Kuiper Belt<\/a>\u00a0for the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">New Horizons<\/a> probe to fly by has been chosen:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/News-Center\/News-Article.php?page=20150828\" target=\"_d\">NASA\u2019s New Horizons Team Selects Potential Kuiper Belt Flyby Target<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>NASA has selected the potential next destination for the New Horizons mission to visit after its historic July 14 flyby of the Pluto system. The destination is a small Kuiper Belt object (KBO) known as 2014 MU69 that orbits nearly a billion miles beyond Pluto.<\/p>\n<p>This remote KBO was one of two identified as potential destinations and the one recommended to NASA by the New Horizons team. Although NASA has selected 2014 MU69 as the target, as part of its normal review process the agency will conduct a detailed assessment before officially approving the mission extension to conduct additional science.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_11298\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11298\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NewHorizonsKBOencounter1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"11298\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=11298\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NewHorizonsKBOencounter1.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1920,1080\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"NewHorizonsKBOencounter[1]\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NewHorizonsKBOencounter1-1024x576.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-11298\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NewHorizonsKBOencounter1.jpg\" alt=\"NewHorizonsKBOencounter[1]\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NewHorizonsKBOencounter1.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NewHorizonsKBOencounter1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NewHorizonsKBOencounter1-1024x576.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11298\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist&#8217;s impression of NASA&#8217;s New Horizons spacecraft encountering a Pluto-like object in the distant Kuiper Belt. (Credit: NASA\/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory\/Southwest Research Institute\/Steve Gribben). <a href=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NewHorizonsKBOencounter1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Larger image<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201cEven as the New Horizon\u2019s spacecraft speeds away from Pluto out into the Kuiper Belt, and the data from the exciting encounter with this new world is being streamed back to Earth, we are looking outward to the next destination for this intrepid explorer,\u201d said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and chief of the NASA Science Mission Directorate at the agency headquarters in Washington. \u201cWhile discussions whether to approve this extended mission will take place in the larger context of the planetary science portfolio, we expect it to be much less expensive than the prime mission while still providing new and exciting science.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Like all NASA missions that have finished their main objective but seek to do more exploration, the New Horizons team must write a proposal to the agency to fund a KBO mission. That proposal \u2013 due in 2016 \u2013 will be evaluated by an independent team of experts before NASA can decide about the go-ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Early target selection was important; the team needs to direct New Horizons toward the object this year in order to perform any extended mission with healthy fuel margins. New Horizons will perform a series of four maneuvers in late October and early November to set its course toward 2014 MU69 \u2013 nicknamed \u201cPT1\u201d (for \u201cPotential Target 1\u201d) \u2013 which it expects to reach on January 1, 2019. Any delays from those dates would cost precious fuel and add mission risk.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_11299\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11299\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NH-KBO-path1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"11299\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=11299\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NH-KBO-path1.png\" data-orig-size=\"985,554\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"NH-KBO-path[1]\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NH-KBO-path1.png\" class=\"wp-image-11299\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NH-KBO-path1.png\" alt=\"NH-KBO-path[1]\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NH-KBO-path1.png 985w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NH-KBO-path1-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11299\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Path of NASA&#8217;s New Horizons spacecraft toward its next potential target, the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, nicknamed &#8220;PT1&#8221; (for &#8220;Potential Target 1&#8221;) by the New Horizons team. Although NASA has selected 2014 MU69 as the target, as part of its normal review process the agency will conduct a detailed assessment before officially approving the mission extension to conduct additional science. (Credit: NASA\/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory\/Southwest Research Institute\/Alex Parker). <a href=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NH-KBO-path1.png\" target=\"_blank\">Larger image<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201c2014 MU69 is a great choice because it is just the kind of ancient KBO, formed where it orbits now, that the Decadal Survey desired us to fly by,\u201d said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado. \u201cMoreover, this KBO costs less fuel to reach [than other candidate targets], leaving more fuel for the flyby, for ancillary science, and greater fuel reserves to protect against the unforeseen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>New Horizons was originally designed to fly beyond the Pluto system and explore additional Kuiper Belt objects. The spacecraft carries extra hydrazine fuel for a KBO flyby; its communications system is designed to work from far beyond Pluto; its power system is designed to operate for many more years; and its scientific instruments were designed to operate in light levels much lower than it will experience during the 2014 MU69 flyby.<\/p>\n<p>The 2003 National Academy of Sciences\u2019 Planetary Decadal Survey (\u201cNew Frontiers in the Solar System\u201d) strongly recommended that the first mission to the Kuiper Belt include flybys of Pluto and small KBOs, in order to sample the diversity of objects in that previously unexplored region of the solar system. The identification of PT1, which is in a completely different class of KBO than Pluto, potentially allows New Horizons to satisfy those goals.<\/p>\n<p>But finding a suitable KBO flyby target was no easy task. Starting a search in 2011 using some of the largest ground-based telescopes on Earth, the New Horizons team found several dozen KBOs, but none were reachable within the fuel supply aboard the spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>The powerful Hubble Space Telescope came to the rescue in summer 2014, discovering five objects, since narrowed to two, within New Horizons\u2019 flight path. Scientists estimate that PT1 is just under 30 miles (about 45 kilometers) across; that\u2019s more than 10 times larger and 1,000 times more massive than typical comets, like the one the Rosetta mission is now orbiting, but only about 0.5 to 1 percent of the size (and about 1\/10,000th the mass) of Pluto. As such, PT1 is thought to be like the building blocks of Kuiper Belt planets such as Pluto.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike asteroids, KBOs have been heated only slightly by the Sun, and are thought to represent a well preserved, deep-freeze sample of what the outer solar system was like following its birth 4.6 billion years ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s so much that we can learn from close-up spacecraft observations that we\u2019ll never learn from Earth, as the Pluto flyby demonstrated so spectacularly,\u201d said New Horizons science team member John Spencer, also of SwRI. \u201cThe detailed images and other data that New Horizons could obtain from a KBO flyby will revolutionize our understanding of the Kuiper Belt and KBOs.\u201d The New Horizons spacecraft \u2013 currently 3 billion miles [4.9 billion kilometers] from Earth \u2013 is just starting to transmit the bulk of the images and other data, stored on its digital recorders, from its historic July encounter with the Pluto system. The spacecraft is healthy and operating normally.<\/p>\n<p>New Horizons is part of NASA\u2019s New Frontiers Program, managed by the agency\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate. SwRI leads the science mission, payload operations, and encounter science planning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Check out this excellent animation of the New Horizons probe flying out from earth and past Pluto:\u00a0To Pluto and Beyond: Animating New Horizons\u2019 Flight Through the Pluto System &#8211;\u00a0Pluto New Horizons === A\u00a0candidate\u00a0target out in the Kuiper Belt\u00a0for the\u00a0New Horizons probe to fly by has been chosen: NASA\u2019s New Horizons Team Selects Potential Kuiper Belt &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11297\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Video of New Horizons flyby of the Pluto system + Kuiper Belt target candidate chosen for flyby<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,13,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pluto","category-space-science","category-space-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-2Wd","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17420,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=17420","url_meta":{"origin":11297,"position":0},"title":"New Horizons to make New Years flyby of Ultima Thule","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The New Horizons probe made its flyby of Pluto in July of 2015 and then sped on into the Kuiper Belt, a vast region of space inhabited by debris from the earliest era in the formation of the solar system. As a mission bonus, the trajectory of the spacecraft was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pluto and beyond&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/kuiperBeltChart1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15157,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15157","url_meta":{"origin":11297,"position":1},"title":"Enter name for Kuiper Belt object that New Horizons will visit in 2019","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A new NASA naming contest: Help Nickname New Horizons\u2019 Next Flyby Target NASA\u2019s New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt is looking for your ideas on what to informally name its next flyby destination, a billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) past Pluto. On New Year\u2019s Day 2019, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Contests and Games&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Contests and Games","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/nh_flyby_target1-1024x673.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10372,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10372","url_meta":{"origin":11297,"position":2},"title":"Videos: New Horizons Pluto mission update + Color image of Pluto and moon Charon","author":"TopSpacer","date":"April 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0New Horizons\u00a0spacecraft moves ever closer to Pluto for its fly-by in July. Today there were two panel discussions about the mission. The first panel focused on the science: https:\/\/youtu.be\/Ej3HUvLw_sA Here's the second panel, which focuses on the spacecraft: https:\/\/youtu.be\/OOx7Oi7go3E ----- Here's a NASA's New Horizons Nears Historic Encounter with Pluto\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pluto and beyond&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17980,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=17980","url_meta":{"origin":11297,"position":3},"title":"New Horizons: High-res images of Ultima Thule + New documentary &#8220;Summiting the Solar System&#8221;","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"On Friday, the New Horizons mission released the highest resolution images yet of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule, which the probe flew by on January 1st: Spot On! New Horizons Spacecraft Returns Its Sharpest Views of Ultima Thule The mission team called it a \"stretch goal\" \u2013 just before\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pluto and beyond&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/ca06_linear_m2_to_22_rot2701.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11659,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11659","url_meta":{"origin":11297,"position":4},"title":"New Horizons: Maneuvering for Kuiper Belt target + Family portrait of Pluto&#8217;s moons","author":"TopSpacer","date":"October 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The New Horizons probe, which is still returning data from its encounter with Pluto, will\u00a0fly by\u00a0another distant object on January 1, 2019 if everything goes as planned. 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NASA's New Horizons \u2018Phones Home\u2019 Safe after Pluto Flyby The call everyone was waiting for is in. NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft phoned home just before 9 p.m. EDT Tuesday to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pluto and beyond&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"New Horizons Flight Controllers celebrate after they received confirmation from the spacecraft that it had successfully completed the flyby of Pluto, Tuesday, July 14, 2015 in the Mission Operations Center (MOC) of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Maryland. Photo Credit: (NASA\/Bill Ingalls)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/15-1501.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11300,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11297\/revisions\/11300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}