{"id":9556,"date":"2015-01-01T01:54:34","date_gmt":"2015-01-01T06:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9556"},"modified":"2015-01-01T01:54:34","modified_gmt":"2015-01-01T06:54:34","slug":"its-pluto-eve-update-on-the-new-horizons-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9556","title":{"rendered":"“It’s Pluto eve!” – Update on the New Horizons mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alan Stern<\/a>, principle investigator for the New Horizons<\/a> fly-by of\u00a0Pluto mission, gives this\u00a0update as they wait for next July’s encounter with the distant planet:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Pluto Eve!<\/strong><\/p>\n

December 31, 2014<\/strong>: As 2014 ends and 2015 begins, I\u2019m reminded of something senior planetary scientist and New Horizons science team member Rick Binzel said a while back: \u201cIt\u2019s Pluto Eve!\u201d<\/p>\n

New Horizons has been awake from hibernation since mid-day on Dec. 6, having completed its almost nine-year-long cruise phase from Earth to \u201cPluto space.\u201d We\u2019re currently in the very earliest stages of Pluto approach.<\/p>\n

Since waking New Horizons, we\u2019ve been checking out spacecraft systems and some of the instruments, calibrating gyroscopes, collecting trajectory tracking information, and undertaking many other spacecraft preparations before the Pluto encounter starts on Jan. 15. At the same time, our science, engineering and operations teams have been planning and testing spacecraft command loads (detailed flight plans) for the first parts of encounter operations in early 2015. Needless to say, it\u2019s been a busy time.<\/p>\n

When the encounter begins we\u2019ll still be very far from Pluto, about 135 million miles (220 million kilometers). We won\u2019t get close enough to be at our \u201cBTH\u201d \u2014 Better than Hubble \u2014imaging point until mid-May, but there is still a lot to do before then.<\/p>\n

Throughout January to early-May, we\u2019ll be taking essentially continuous data on the interplanetary environment where the Pluto system orbits. We\u2019ll do that daily using our charged particle sensors (called PEPSSI and SWAP) to measure both solar wind and high-energy particles, and we\u2019ll use the Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter to measure dust-particle concentrations in the inner reaches of the Kuiper Belt.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll also do a great deal of radio tracking of New Horizons using NASA\u2019s Deep Space Network<\/a> to refine our knowledge of the approach trajectory, and we\u2019ll use our Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) to take hundreds of pictures of Pluto against star fields to better refine the spacecraft\u2019s distance to Pluto. Our navigation teams will use that information to compute burn solutions for midcourse maneuvers we may want to make using New Horizons\u2019 rocket engines in mid-March and mid-May. We should know whether the March burn will be needed by early February and we\u2019ll keep you posted.<\/p>\n

Some other data we\u2019ll be planning to take before May include:<\/p>\n