Updates NASA New Horizons Mission Updates

[Notebook]

Pluto Mission News
December 19, 2008
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu



New Horizons Earns a Holiday

After an intense annual checkout – more like a deep-space workout – New Horizons and its Earth-bound team are getting some well-deserved rest. New Horizons operators at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) eased the spacecraft into electronic hibernation on Dec. 16, wrapping up nearly four months of system tests, instrument calibrations, data collecting and software upgrades.

“I'm in awe of all the team accomplished during this checkout – multiple software uploads, full spacecraft and payload checkouts, instrument calibrations and new capability tests, star-tracker imaging, trajectory tracking refinement, science measurements and more,” says New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern.

Read the full story at http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/121908.php.



[SIZE=+0]What's New Horizons Doing? Keep in Touch on Twitter!

Need more New Horizons news than our Web updates or PI's blog? Learn what New Horizons is doing on our Twitter site, http://twitter.com/newhorizons2015. You can visit the site from time to time, or sign up for instant notices of new postings.

For more on Twitter, visit http://twitter.com/.



Pluto Pals

As New Horizons celebrates its third launch anniversary next month, we’ll be wishing a “happy birthday” to the New Horizons Kids Club! The club has room for a few older Pluto Pals, so if you know a child who was born on January 19, 1996, please contact us at [email protected]. Visit the New Horizons Kids Club page for more information.




New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.





[/SIZE]

 

[Notebook]

Pluto Mission News
January 5, 2009
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu



The PI's Perspective: Welcome to Mid-Cruise!

With another annual checkout completed and the third launch anniversary approaching, New Horizons enters the second of three "cruise phases" on its voyage to Pluto. In his first posting of the new year, mission Principal Investigator Alan Stern takes a look at where the New Horizons spacecraft and team have been, what they're up to now, and where they're headed.

Read the full story here, or visit: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/overview/piPerspective.php?page=piPerspective_1_5_2009.



New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.

Thats a nice caption for the final image

Arrival at Pluto: High noon (GMT) on Tuesday, July 14, 2015! (Artwork by Dan Durda and Ken Moscati)

Also a nice precis for the mission. Hope they can keep the data flowing!

 

[Notebook]

Pluto Mission News
January 19, 2009
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu



Launch Plus Three Years: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

On the anniversary of New Horizons’ launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on January 19, 2006, mission team members reflect on liftoff, a busy first three years of flight and the ongoing voyage to Pluto and beyond. "History is hard to see when you are making it," says New Horizons science team member Ralph McNutt, of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. "But that is what the New Horizons team has done and continues to do."

Click here for the full story, or visit:
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/20090119_ann.php?page=20090119_ann_01




New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.

 

[Notebook]

New Horizons Detects Neptune’s Moon Triton

Add another moon to the New Horizons photo gallery: the spacecraft’s Long Range Reconnaissance Imager detected Triton, the largest of Neptune’s 13 known moons, during last fall’s annual spacecraft checkout. “We wanted to test LORRI’s ability to measure a faint object near a much brighter one using a special tracking mode, and the Neptune-Triton pair perfectly fit the bill,” says New Horizons Project Scientist Hal Weaver, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

See the images and read the full story at: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/031209.php.



Mission Madness: Send New Horizons to NASA's Final Four!

New Horizons is about to run the floor with with some of NASA’s most famous missions – and you can help it come out on top. The online NASA “Mission Madness” tournament pits 64 past, present and future missions against each other in four divisions. Fans can vote for their favorites and the top vote-getters move on to the next round.

Each round includes two days of voting; the voting for round one begins March 19. Fans can vote as many times as they like while polls are open, and with New Horizons drawing a tough opener against Gemini IV (the first American spacewalk), the first mission to Pluto is counting on your support!

Check out the brackets today at: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/missionmadness/teaser.html





New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.

 

[SiberianTiger]

How soon is it going to cross Uranus' orbit?

 

[Notebook]

New Horizons passes the orbit of Uranus on March 18, 2011.

Projected Orbit Crossing Dates



Neptune: August 24, 2014

Pluto: July 14, 2015

​

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/passingplanets/passingPlanets_current.php

Only three years to go!

N.

 

[Notebook]

Pluto Mission News
March 19, 2009
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu




The PI’s Perspective: One-Third Down

On the mission flight-time calendar, New Horizons is exactly one-third of the way through its journey to Pluto. New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern provides a mission update and ponders something for the next big milestone: just where (or when) is the halfway point in this historic voyage?

Read the full story here, or visit: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/overview/piPerspective.php?page=piPerspective_3_19_2009.






NASA Mission Madness Begins: Vote Today!

Voting for the first round of NASA’s Mission Madness tournament is under way, with New Horizons matched against Gemini IV in a first-round “Horizons” region game. Help push the first mission to Pluto into the second round!

Check out the brackets and vote for New Horizons today (and tomorrow) at: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/missionmadness/bracket.html.





New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.

 

[Notebook]

Pluto Mission News
March 24, 2009
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu




NASA Mission Madness: Send New Horizons to Round 3


Having cruised past Gemini IV in the tournament opener, New Horizons is locked into a tight battle with STS-1 in the second round of NASA’s “Mission Madness” contest. Today is the last day to vote in the second round, so don’t forget to cast your vote for the first mission to Pluto, and send New Horizons on to Round 3!

There are no limits to the amount of votes you can cast – just a couple of mouse clicks on “New Horizons” in the “Horizon” region bracket will register a vote. Visit the tournament site at http://mission-madness.nasa.gov/mm/bracket.html, and thanks again for supporting New Horizons!




New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.

 

[Notebook]

Pluto Mission News
May 11, 2009
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu



New Horizons Team Remembers Venetia Phair, the ‘Girl Who Named Pluto’

The New Horizons team is fondly remembering Venetia Burney Phair, the “little girl” who named Pluto, who died April 30 at her home in England at age 90. “Venetia's interest and success in naming Pluto as a schoolgirl caught the attention of the world and earned her a place in the history of planetary astronomy that lives on,” says New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern.

In 2006, the New Horizons team named the spacecraft's student dust counter instrument in her honor, calling it the "Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter."

For the full story, visit: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/20090508.php.



New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.

 

[Notebook]

Pluto Mission News
May 20, 2009
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu



The PI’s Perspective: Ever Plan Ahead? How About Six Years Ahead?

For the New Horizons team, it’s never too early to plan ahead. In his latest PI Perspective posting, mission Principal Investigator Alan Stern describes the team’s intense work to design every step of the Pluto encounter – even though the spacecraft is more than six years and just over 18 astronomical units from the Pluto system.

visit: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu./overview/piPerspective.php?page=piPerspective_5_20_2009


New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.

 

[atuhalpa]

The links don't work.

 

[Notebook]

For the last entry? They do here.

N.

 

[tblaxland]

For the last entry? They do here.

N.

I've had this before with your updates. When I hover over the link I get this:

mhtml:{188F19B6-9F1D-4E0E-8AE0-6CFF966039CD}mid://00000190/!x-usc:http://pluto.jhuapl.edu./overview/piPerspective.php?page=piPerspective_5_20_2009

If I cut/paste the part starting with "http://" into the my browsers address bar, I get the intended link. I'm not sure where you are getting those links from (an html email?) but mhtml does not have wide support: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mhtml

EDIT: I should say that this mission amazes me. Looking at the encounter drawing, the probe will have travelled for nearly 3500 days and in the matter of hours its primary mission will be over.

 

[Notebook]

I subscribe to their e-mail list, I'll check the future ones.

N.

 

[TMac3000]

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/passingplanets/passingPlanets_current.php

Only three years to go!

N.

How close will it come to the planet?

 

[n122vu]

I've had this before with your updates. When I hover over the link I get this:

mhtml:{188F19B6-9F1D-4E0E-8AE0-6CFF966039CD}mid://00000190/!x-usc:http://pluto.jhuapl.edu./overview/piPerspective.php?page=piPerspective_5_20_2009

If I cut/paste the part starting with "http://" into the my browsers address bar, I get the intended link. I'm not sure where you are getting those links from (an html email?) but mhtml does not have wide support: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mhtml

EDIT: I should say that this mission amazes me. Looking at the encounter drawing, the probe will have travelled for nearly 3500 days and in the matter of hours its primary mission will be over.

Or you could highlight the actual text of the link in the post and do a c & p into the address bar to get around that...

 

[Notebook]

How close will it come to the planet?

Planned Pluto closest approach distance and speed: [FONT=MPTLPS+MyriadPro-Light,Myriad Pro][FONT=MPTLPS+MyriadPro-Light,Myriad Pro]About 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) at 14 kilometers per second (31,300 miles per hour).
[/FONT][/FONT]Planned Charon closest approach and speed: [FONT=MPTLPS+MyriadPro-Light,Myriad Pro][FONT=MPTLPS+MyriadPro-Light,Myriad Pro]About 27,000 kilometers (16,800 miles) at same approximate Pluto flyby speed.
[/FONT][/FONT]

From the Mission Guide pdf.
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/common/content/pdfs/NH_MissionGuide.pdf

N.

 

[Notebook]

Rise and Shine: New Horizons Wakes for Annual Checkout

New Horizons is up from the longest nap of its cruise to Pluto, as operators “woke” the spacecraft from hibernation yesterday for its annual series of checkouts and tests.

The actual wake-up call went in months ago; the commands for New Horizons to power up and reawaken its hibernating systems were radioed to its computer before it entered hibernation on December 16, 2008. During hibernation, as the spacecraft traveled almost 200 million miles toward its goal — the Pluto system — New Horizons sent back weekly status reports as well as biweekly engineering telemetry reports.

Read the full story.



New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.

New Horizons is now 1.19 billion miles (nearly 1.92 billion kilometers) from Earth, speeding away from the Sun at just over 10 miles per second. At that distance, radio signals (traveling at light speed) from home need an hour and 46 minutes to reach the spacecraft. The spacecraft is scheduled to complete ACO-3 and re-enter hibernation on August 27.

Suspicous timing, maybe its an Ashes fan?

N.

 

[Notebook]

Pluto Mission News
July 14, 2009
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu


The PI’s Perspective: A Summer’s Work, Far from Home

The work is fun but it never ends on the New Horizons mission — particularly when the team conducts its annual spacecraft checkout. Principal Investigator Alan Stern brings us up to speed on “ACO-3” and offers a look ahead at several additional spacecraft activities.

For the full story, visit: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/overview/piPerspective.php



New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.

 

[Notebook]

Pluto Mission News
August 28, 2009
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu

​

New Horizons Checks Out, Enters Hibernation

The New Horizons mission team has closed out a successful summer workout, putting its Pluto-bound spacecraft back into hibernation on Aug. 27 after seven weeks of functional tests and system checks.

The mission’s third annual checkout (ACO-3), which started July 7, “went very well,” says Mission System Engineer Chris Hersman, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. “New Horizons is in good shape.”

Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute, says ACO-3 was less “cluttered and complex” than previous ACOs – kept simple to let mission engineers and scientists focus on Pluto-encounter planning. Still, it was productive: the team performed functional checkouts of all seven science instruments and every spacecraft subsystem, including the primary and backup hardware in each system; carefully tracked the spacecraft to refine its knowledge of New Horizons’ trajectory; and uploaded the computer instructions that will guide New Horizons through hibernation.

Follow New Horizons on Twitter!​

www.twitter.com/newhorizons2015​

​

The Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) and Solar Wind at Pluto (SWAP) instruments also accumulated about a day’s worth of data on the interplanetary gases and particles around the spacecraft – currently 1.33 billion miles (2.13 billion kilometers) from the Sun, nearly halfway between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus, more than 14 times the distance between Earth and the Sun.

The team will pull New Horizons out of hibernation for 10 days starting on Nov. 9, for a set of maneuvers that keep Earth in the beam of the spacecraft’s antenna. “It’s an adjustment we have to make as Earth moves around the Sun and New Horizons moves farther along on its path toward Pluto,” Hersman says.

​

New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.

​