Updates NASA New Horizons Mission Updates

[Izack]

I wonder what it's like, writing software for space probes.

 

[Ghostrider]

I wonder what it's like, writing software for space probes.

Something along the lines of:

10 FOR I=1 TO 1E99
20 PRINT "I'M BORED",
30 NEXT I

:lol:

Surely I jest... Software that is supposed to work without fail for years or even decades, and/or lie dormant and run without glitches without outside supervision must be a freakin' challenge. However, it must be the ultimate programmer's trip.

 

[Urwumpe]

Surely I jest... Software that is supposed to work without fail for years or even decades, and/or lie dormant and run without glitches without outside supervision must be a freakin' challenge. However, it must be the ultimate programmer's trip.

Not really. While it is a challenge, it is about as exciting as snail racing. It has nothing to do with modern agile software development. It is slow, precise and formal. While you now can use tools and language elements (in languages like Ada) to ensure formal correctness without the good old paperwork, it is still a pretty hard process. If you think the usual Change Management is annoyingly slow, spacecraft CM is operating at geological speeds. But then, it also has the advantage of being even in the worst case very stress-free. No need for panic, because you have so much documentation, metrics and instrumentation in your software development, that contrary to the usual bug hunts, you can even make accurate predictions how long it will take to locate and fix a bug. It is all one big documented process : slow, but extremely reliable.


I wouldn't say that you will be very excited while developing it, but you might feel mildly excited when the software is uploaded and the computer moded back to normal. Hours of waiting in agony, until you get the confirmation: "*digigarble* *sync* Upload OK, patches verified, Update OK, all applications running". I would likely turn into an instant chain smoker, if I would have to wait for 10 hours until my computer responds. :lol:

 

[Ghostrider]

I would likely turn into an instant chain smoker, if I would have to wait for 10 hours until my computer responds. :lol:

I guess you never worked with a tape-based Sinclair ZX-80.:lol:

 

[Notebook]

The PI’s Perspective: The Seven-Year Itch



New Horizons celebrates its seventh launch anniversary on Jan. 19. After seven years in flight — longer than many science missions operate — the New Horizons team can feel that the Pluto encounter is almost around the corner. Mission Principal Investigator Alan Stern writes that there’s an increased pace of activity, a sense of anticipation, and a palpable thirst for the images and other data the team will soon have.

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/overview/piPerspective.php

For me it only shows the video, not the content of the article? Sure some good aministrator will sort this out!

N,

 

[Artlav]

For me it only shows the video, not the content of the article? Sure some good aministrator will sort this out!

Vice-versa here, it shows the article but not the video.

Here it is:

It’s been seven years since New Horizons’ launch on Jan. 19, 2006, and our spacecraft remains healthy and on course.

We’re more than halfway between the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. In fact, we’re so far along the journey that we’ll cross the orbit of Neptune and enter “Pluto space” in August of next year!

After seven years in flight — longer than many science missions operate — it’s fair to say the project team can feel that the Pluto encounter is almost around the corner. After all, 2015 is just the year after next! There’s an increased pace of activity, a sense of anticipation, and a palpable thirst for the images and other data we’ll soon have as our reward for hard work on a project with roots going back to 1989. I call this new phenomenon our “seven-year itch.” And it’s a good itch!

Look back at the New Horizons launch.

Anniversaries and anticipations aside, let me turn to project news.

This month’s spacecraft wakeup — we were in hibernation from July 6, 2012, until Jan. 6 — is proceeding, with various maintenance and checkout activities, spacecraft tracking work, and a new software load (to squash a pesky bug) all going well. We’ll keep the spacecraft active until Jan. 30, then we’ll put her back into hibernation until May 21, when we wake up for a very busy summer of checkouts and encounter rehearsal activities.

Also this summer, the New Horizons project will be hosting a major conference for the planetary science community. At this conference, which will be held in late July near our mission control center at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, planetary scientists from around the world will gather to review everything we know about the Pluto system. They’ll plan ground-based and space-based Pluto system observations to take place in concert with the New Horizons encounter, make scientific predictions about what we will learn from New Horizons, and learn about the spacecraft and payload’s capabilities so they can prepare — as we are — to analyze data from the long flyby.

In July 2014, a similar meeting will be held for the public and educators. That meeting will be broadly webcast, so that thousands or tens of thousands or even more interested people can follow and learn.

Before I close this brief update, I do want to answer a question I get a lot: After all this work, why isn’t New Horizons going into orbit around Pluto?

The reason is actually pretty simple: getting into orbit isn’t practical because of our speed. Remember, New Horizons was the fastest spacecraft ever launched. Even after climbing uphill against the Sun’s gravity for nine years, when we reach Pluto we’ll still be going 30,000-plus miles per hour — very roughly twice the speed of a space shuttle or satellite in Earth orbit. To enter orbit around Pluto we’d need to bleed almost all of that speed off with rockets. And that would require very large rocket engines and a lot of fuel, given our fast trajectory.

Artist concept
Artist’s concept of New Horizons in the distant Kuiper Belt.
(Credit: Southwest Research Institute [Dan Durda] and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory [Ken Moscati]).

The only alternative would have been a slower, longer flight – many decades long – that would have meant a slower arrival, but that wasn’t in the cards either politically or budgetary — not to mention from a standpoint of all of our lifetimes! So, long story short, we can’t get into orbit, and could not find a practical way to design such a mission that could actually be sold to NASA and Congress when we proposed it.

It’s also fair to point out that a flyby has other advantages beyond being a quick mission – taking only 9½ years to cross more than 3 billion miles. The flyby allows us to go on and explore farther into the frontier of the Kuiper Belt, and we like that!

I’ll close with that thought. I plan to provide another update as we near summer’s intensive mission operations. Thanks again for following our journey across the deep ocean of space, to a new planet and a truly new frontier.

Until I write again, I hope you’ll keep on exploring – just as we do!

Alan Stern

 

[perseus]

Seven years ago that New Horizons took off (was a January 19). Remaining 2 ½ years for the flyby, which will be in July 2015. On January 6 came out of hibernation and these days is checking the probe and is raising a new software. These tasks will continue until January 30 and then return to hibernation until May 21, in the summer to do many activities. In late July is hosting a conference to be attended by scientists around the world to bring together what is known about Pluto and prepare the flyby. Also in July 2014 will be another meeting open to the public which can be followed online.
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/overview/piPerspective.php

. Following the summary of what I did say precisely why New Horizons will not stay in orbit of Pluto.

 

[orb]

The Planetary Society Blog: When will New Horizons have better views of Pluto than Hubble does?

 

[Notebook]

The PI’s Perspective: Encounter Planning Accelerates

May 16, 2013

The New Horizons team studied numerous alternate flybys, called SHBOTs, before recommending to NASA a pair of backups to protect New Horizons from possible impact hazards in the Pluto system.

All exploration comes with both rewards and risks.

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/overview/piPerspective.php

 

[Notebook]

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/20130614.php

June 14, 2013


Unless significant new hazards are found, expect NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft to stay on its original course past Pluto and its moons, after mission managers concluded that the danger posed by dust and debris in the Pluto system is less than they once feared.

 

[N_Molson]

Summer 2013 bi-annual position update

We have passed the half of 2013 now, so here's a position update :

Less than 6 AU remaining, that's nothing ! :lol: Seriously, at the Solar System scale, that mighty Probe is almost arrived

 

[Notebook]

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/overview/piPerspective.php

This week the New Horizons mission team is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the discovery of Pluto’s largest and “first” moon, Charon. This discovery was made in 1978 by U.S. Naval Observatory astronomers James Christy and Robert Harrington, working in Flagstaff, Ariz., and Washington, D.C.

Charon, whose discovery was first announced on July 7, 1978, orbits about 19,400 kilometers (12,500 miles) from Pluto and has a diameter of about 1,207 kilometers (750 miles) — about the width of Texas. At half the diameter of Pluto, Charon is the largest moon relative to its planet in our solar system.

 

[statickid]

I'm always amazed at how "spaced out" (pun intended) the outer solar system is. Its so crazy that its still 6AU out even though it is soooooo "close"

---------- Post added at 11:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 AM ----------

I can't wait to see a new surface!!

 

[Notebook]

Its all happening out there!

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/20130710.php

Charon Revealed!
New Horizons Camera Spots Pluto’s Largest Moon


July 10, 2013


NASA’s Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft, using its highest-resolution telescopic camera, has spotted Pluto’s Texas-sized, ice-covered moon Charon for the first time. This represents a major milestone on the spacecraft’s 9½-year journey to conduct the initial reconnaissance of the Pluto system and the Kuiper Belt and, in a sense, begins the mission’s long-range study of the Pluto system.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

New Horizons will fly past Pluto in exactly 2 years time from now. My my, how quick time has flied past - I remember reading about the mission before its launch in junior high school (2005!), and kept thinking that 2015 is a long, long time away....

 

[garyw]

It would seem that the New Horizons mission team are fans of Tuesdays...

It's Tuesday, almost 400 behind us on this journey and just 103 more till we reach Pluto on 14 July 2015!

 

[N_Molson]

Hehe 14th of July... Funny. Will be an awesome day for french orbinauts !

By the way, I checked, and the 14th of July 2015 is... a Tuesday. Just... wow.

That can only be a sign from the Almighty Probe !

 

[Unstung]

Science in 2015:

 

[Unstung]

A conference related to New Horizon's target is currently in progress, and more lectures from it can be reported on in the future. There is sizable article about the conference that discusses many aspects of Pluto ranging from its composition to its satellites and New Horizons' role in potentially discovering certain things. However, the publication covers too many topics to provide a single, adequate quote that summarizes all of New Horizon's potential discoveries.
The Planetary Society: "Pluto on the Eve of Exploration by New Horizons: Small moons, dust, surfaces, interiors"

There are still many unusual things observed in the Pluto-Charon system that can only be explained with more complete data.

Despite being covered in this thread earlier, The Planetary Society also reported on how "New Horizons' originally-planned trajectory past Pluto is likely safe from dust". This particular article stresses the importance for New Horizons to remain intact because the spacecraft cannot return data from the flyby in real-time.

 

[Unstung]

Two new reports on the conference have been written by Emily Lakdawalla. The first discusses where is north and south on Pluto, and since New Horizons was launched when Pluto was still classified as a planet, how that is relevant to the mission. The second is about whether Pluto ever had an ocean and what signs on the surface may reveal that part of Pluto's history.

The Planetary Society:
Pluto on the Eve of Exploration by New Horizons: A problem of cartography and Is there an ocean, or not?