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New Horizons, Only 100 days from Pluto.

Laurie61

By Laurie61
in The Astro Lounge

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Laurie61

Laurie61

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New Horizons probe refines Pluto flyby path -

The American New Horizons spacecraft has made its last planned targeting manoeuvre as it bears down on Pluto.New Horizons' 23-second thruster burn will adjust very slightly its speed and arrival time. The spacecraft needs to take a very calculated path past Pluto and its moons, to ensure its instruments point where they are supposed to on the 14th.

Had the thruster burn not been executed, the probe would have arrived 20 seconds late and 184 km off from the point where mission controllers wanted it to be. 

In the meantime, the spacecraft continues to return pictures and other data on approach to Pluto, even though the dwarf is still currently only a very small feature in the distance., will upload the commands that will drive the observation sequence during the flyby.

On flyby day itself, no pictures will come back to Earth, because New Horizons will be so busy gathering data. The first images are expected on Wednesday, 15 July. "We’ll eventually get to a resolution of 80m per pixel with LORRI," explained Prof Stern.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33348459

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Piero

Piero

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Okay, so just a small correction then! 

I knew they also considered to change the trajectory completely for preventing the risk of potential collision with small rocks potentially located in Pluto's moon system. 

If so, the new trajectory would have reduced the high resolution image quality considerably and that is why people were a bit concerned about it. 

Thankfully this does not seem to be the case! 

So, now.. minus 12 days! :)

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Highburymark

Highburymark

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incredible pictures emerging - at every stage Pluto has looked different and more interesting. And to think the probe is travelling at 50,000 km an hour - which is the equivalent of covering the diameter of Pluto in less than 3 minutes, yet it's bang on target after a nine year journey. A fantastic achievement.

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RLWP

RLWP

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Great images, my vote for the dark spots would be cities but looks more like someone used the photoshop clone tool incorectly.

Alan

Place your bets

Cities are running at 100:1 at the moment. Lumps of pure iodine 33:1, whacking great holes 40:1 and forests 2:1

Richard

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Laurie61

Laurie61

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It looks like things are back on track  :smiley: 

New Horizons Plans July 7 Return to Normal Science Operations.

NASA's New Horizons mission is returning to normal science operations after a July 4 anomaly and remains on track for its July 14 flyby of Pluto.

The investigation into the anomaly that caused New Horizons to enter "safe mode" on July 4 has concluded that no hardware or software fault occurred on the spacecraft. The underlying cause of the incident was a hard-to-detect timing flaw in the spacecraft command sequence that occurred during an operation to prepare for the close flyby. No similar operations are planned for the remainder of the Pluto encounter.

"I'm pleased that our mission team quickly identified the problem and assured the health of the spacecraft," said Jim Green, NASA's Director of Planetary Science. "Now - with Pluto in our sights - we're on the verge of returning to normal operations and going for the gold."

Preparations are ongoing to resume the originally planned science operations on July 7 and to conduct the entire close flyby sequence as planned. The mission science team and principal investigator have concluded that the science observations lost during the anomaly recovery do not affect any primary objectives of the mission, with a minimal effect on lesser objectives. "In terms of science, it won't change an A-plus even into an A," said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder.

Adding to the challenge of recovery is the spacecraft's extreme distance from Earth. New Horizons is almost 3 billion miles away, where radio signals, even traveling at light speed, need 4.5 hours to reach home. Two-way communication between the spacecraft and its operators requires a nine-hour round trip.

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20150705

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astro mick

astro mick

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> Reinstate Pluto.

 

Isn't is more amazing to think there could be hundreds more objects all equally fascinating out there?

Yes that's very true,but I thought that Pluto could have been made an exception.Many people grew up thinking that Pluto was a Planet and of the conditions on that remote cold world.

I think that Clyde Tombaugh,while excepting the ruling,would have privately been a little upset.

He found this body through extensive and dedicated observing,and it was a remarkable acheivment in his day.

Nowadays these bodies are found fairly easily by more modern methods and dedicated space imagery.

Mick.

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Highburymark

Highburymark

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Yes that's very true,but I thought that Pluto could have been made an exception.Many people grew up thinking that Pluto was a Planet and of the conditions on that remote cold world.I think that Clyde Tombaugh,while excepting the ruling,would have privately been a little upset.He found this body through extensive and dedicated observing,and it was a remarkable acheivment in his day.Nowadays these bodies are found fairly easily by more modern methods and dedicated space imagery.Mick.

Completely agree Mick

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