1. NEW HORIZONS NASA’s Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission:
“The First Mission to the Last Planet”

2. Initial Reconnaissance of The Solar System’s
New Horizons:
A Historic Journey
Initial Reconnaissance of The Solar System’s
“Third Zone”
KBOs
Pluto-Charon
July 2015
Jupiter System
March 2007
Launch
Jan 2006

3. Mission Overview
Spacecraft: Heritage-based, RTG-powered, with an ~400 m/s ΔV budget, and redundant subsystems.
Encounters: A 2-month Jupiter encounter, and a 5-month Pluto-Charon encounter; hopefully on to explore KBOs.
Payload: 6 science instruments, plus the Student Dust Counter.

4. New Horizons: NASA’s Inaugural
New Frontiers Mission

5. Proposal Phase
Science Team:
Alan Stern, PI/SwRI
Fran Bagenal/ U. Colorado
Rick Binzel/MIT
Bonnie Buratti/JPL
Andy Cheng/APL
Dale Cruikshank/NASA Ames
Randy Gladstone/SwRI
Will Grundy/Lowell
Dave Hinson/Stanford
Mihaly Horanyi/U. Colorado
Don Jennings/NASA Goddard
Ivan Linscott/Stanford
Jeff Moore/NASA Ames
Dave McComas/SwRI
Bill McKinnon/Washington U.
Ralph McNutt/APL
Scott Murchie/APL
Carolyn Porco/SSI
Harold Reitsema/Ball Aerospace
Dennis Reuter/NASA Goddard
Dave Slater/SwRI
John Spencer/SwRI
Darrel Strobel/Johns Hopkins
Mike Summers/GMU
Len Tyler/Stanford
Hal Weaver/APL
Leslie Young/SwRI
New Horizons was proposed to AO-OSS-01, NASA’s request for flyby mission proposals to Pluto-Charon and the Kuiper Belt.
New Horizons was selected by NASA on 29 Nov 2001.
New Horizons is now completing its development, with launch planned for January 2006.

6. Project Team SwRI and APL Teamed To Lead The Project:
SwRI leads the science team and payload, and is the PI institution
APL leads mission development, operations, and EPO
With Major Team Partners:
Lockheed-Martin delivering the Atlas V ELV, RTG I&T
Boeing delivering the STAR-48B upper stage
NASA/GSFC delivering the LEISA IR spectrometer
Stanford leading the REX radio science investigation
Ball leading the Ralph instrument
JPL for DSN, NEPA/LA, and CoI roles
DOE for the flight RTG and NEPA/LA work
And A World Class Science Team:
26 members from various institutions

7. Pluto-Charon: Planet 9 Pluto Discovered 1930 by Tombaugh
Charon Discovered 1978 by Christy
Only Known Double Planet System
Orbital Distance: AU
Orbital Period: 248 years
Orbital Eccentricity: 25%
Orbital Inclination: 17 deg
Owing to its distance, faintness, and
small angular size, the Pluto-Charon system is exceptionally hard to study from Earth.

8. Pluto-Charon Is A Scientific Treasure-Trove
Its surface is among the most variegated and contrasty in the solar system.
And Pluto’s surface consists of a complex mélange of volatile ices (N2, CO, CH4,…) and organics.

9. Pluto-Charon: A Little Background
The Best Hubble
Images of Pluto
Are Still Crude

10. Pluto-Charon: Unique Among The Planets
Pluto is neither a terrestrial nor a gas giant planet: It is a wholly new type: an ice dwarf, common to the deep outer solar system.
Pluto-Charon is the solar system’s only known binary planet, with implications for atmospheric transfer and for better understanding the formation of the Earth-Moon system.
Pluto’s atmosphere is provides the only likely site of planetary hydrodynamic escape, the process believed to have shaped Earth’s primordial atmospheric loss.

11. Pluto-Charon & The Kuiper Belt Are A Scientific Treasure-Trove
Pluto-Charon’s surfaces record the detailed history of outer solar system bombardment.
The Kuiper Belt is the best archeological site to explore mid-stage accretion in the outer solar system.

12. Pluto/Charon Encounter Jupiter Gravity Assist Flyby
Why Go Now?
Jupiter
Uranus
Saturn
Pluto/Charon Encounter
Summer 2015
Onward to KBOs
Launch
January 2006
Jupiter Gravity Assist Flyby
Spring 2007
Time-Criticality Factors:
JGA Pluto trajectory closes in 2006, reopens in 2018.
Pluto passed its perihelion in 1989; next perihelion: 2247.
Pluto’s atmospheric collapse probability increases with time.
Pluto’s approaching winter solstice nightfall costs ~200,000 km2/yr.

13. Toward New Horizons A Reconnaissance Expedition
To the Kuiper Belt and Pluto-Charon
The Highest Priority New Frontiers New Start
Recommendation of the NRC’s
Planetary Decadal Survey (2002)

14. PKB AO Mission Requirements (AO 01-OSS-01)
Requirement: Flyby Pluto-Charon before the end of 2020; accomplish all Group 1 science objectives, and as many Group 2 and 3 objectives as possible.
Desirement: “NASA desires, if at all possible, …to have a reasonable plan for visiting one or more KBOs...during an extended mission.”

15. NASA-Specified Pluto-Charon Measurement Objectives
Required
Important
Desired

16. Project Philosophy Offer early and highly-leveraged science.
Do so on time, within budget, and at low risk.
Exploit the Jupiter Gravity Assist trajectory to
Jupiter.
Offer a rich return at Pluto-Charon.
Reconnoiter KBOs during Extended Mission.
Keep it Simple.

17. The NH Launch Vehicle: Atlas V 551 and STAR-48 Upper Stage
Centaur Interstage
Adapter (12.5 ft Dia)
CCB Cylindrical
Interstage Adapter
RD-180 Engine
Common Core
BoosterTM (CCB)
Single
RL10 Engine
Centaur
Upper
Stage
5-meter Short Payload
Fairing (68 ft)
Solid Rocket
Boosters
Aft Transition
Skirt/Heat Shield
5-Meter
Payload Fairing
Boattail
Aft Stub
Adapter
Centaur Forward
Load Reactor
Payload
Adapter (PLA)
Centaur Conical

18. Spacecraft Block Diagram

19. Instrument Payload REX LORRI ALICE PEPSSI RALPH SWAP
CORE:
REX radio science & radiometry
RALPH VIS/IR imaging & spectroscopy
ALICE UV imaging spectroscopy
Supplemental:
LORRI High-resolution imager
SWAP plasma spectrometer
PEPSSI energetic particle spectrometer
SDC EPO Student Dust Counter
SWAP
Student Dust Counter

20. Primary Instrument Uses
Device
Type
Primary Uses (BOLD Signifies Group 1 Objective)
Ralph
VIS Imager/
IR Imaging Spectrometer
Panchromatic Photometric/Geologic Mapping
3-Color and CH4 Mapping
Composition Mapping
Thermal Mapping
Alice
UV Imaging Spectrometer
Atmospheric Composition
Upper Atmosphere P,T Profiles
REX
Radio Science, Radiometry
Lower Atmospheric P,T Profiles
Disk Averaged Brightness Temperatures
Masses of Pluto and Charon and KBOs
LORRI
Hi-Res Imager
Pluto-Far Side Mapping
Hi-Res Geology
Early Start to Encounters (5x farther than Ralph)
SWAP
Plasma Spectrometer
Assist in Determining Atmospheric Escape Rate
Measure Solar Wind Interaction with Pluto
PEPSSI
Particle Spectrometer
Pickup Ion Composition
SDC
In Situ Dust Counter
First Solar System Dust Density Profile Beyond 18 AU

21. Payload Characteristics
Type
Characteristics
Builders
Ralph
Imager/Imaging Spectrometer
Panchromatic & 4-color CCD imagery (20 μrad resolution);
μm IR imaging spectroscopy (62 μrad, R= ).
SwRI-Ball
Alice
UV Imaging Spectrometer
λλ= Å, 3 Å resolution, airglow & occultation capabilities
SwRI
REX
Radio Science, Radiometery
Atmosphere P,T to: 0.1μbar, 1 K
Surface Temp to 0.3 K
Stanford-APL
LORRI
Hi-Res Imager
Panchromatic CCD imagery
(5 μrad resolution)
APL
SWAP
In Situ Plasma Spectrometer
Solar wind ions up to 6.5 KeV
PEPSSI
In Situ Particle Spectrometer
Ions: KeV
Electrons: KeV
SDC
In Situ Dust Counter
0.10 meters2 active area,
Threshold Mass ~10-12 gm CU

22. Functional Redundancy In the Instrument Payload

23. The Student Dust Counter: A New Kind of EPO
EPO Goal: Give students a chance to design, build, operate, & study data from a planetary flight experiment.
Science Goal: Make the first dust density & size spectrum observations beyond 18 AU.
Students have the primary responsibility for the design and development of the SDC; over 35 “first generation” students were involved at CU, with dozens more participating across the U.S.
Four Generations of Students To Be Directly Involved.
SDC Student Team Leaders

24. Science Fulfillment Summary
All six originally planned science instruments are aboard, as is the E/PO Student Dust Counter.
No instrument or spacecraft capability descopes that affect AO science requirement fulfillment have been made.
All of the proposed Group 1, 2, and 3 objectives can be fulfilled.
The spacecraft is capable of flying to one or more KBOs after Pluto-Charon for a 2006 launch.
Instrument
Delivered
Meets AO Objectives
Ralph
Mar 2005
YES
Alice
Sep 2004
REX
LORRI
Oct 2004
SWAP
Nov 2004
PEPPSI
SDC
Aug 2004

25. Launch Windows Overview
2006 Primary
Jan 11-Feb 14 Jan ‘06
Window: 34 days
C3: 164 km2/s2
Earliest Arrival 2015
2007 Backup
02–15 Feb ‘07
Window: 14 days
C3: 166 km2/s2
Earliest Arrival 2019
Requires KBO Fuel Removal
New Horizons will be launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida
on Atlas V 551 with a Star 48B upper stage. NH
Star 48B
Atlas V

26. Jupiter Flyby Objectives
Gravity Assist (Speed Trajectory to Pluto)
Encounter Ops Practice
Instrument Calibrations
Jupiter System Science
C/A Date
10–14 Mar 2007
Range
38–39 RJupiter
The New Horizons approaches Jupiter more than three times closer to Jupiter than Cassini did.

27. Jupiter Flyby Science
Jupiter science will include studies of Jovian meteorology, satellite geology and composition,
Auroral phenomena, and magnetospheric physics.

28. New Horizons Will Yield Dramatic Results at Pluto-Charon
Triton from Voyager
Triton and Pluto at Best HST Resolution

29. Example Pluto-Charon Close Encounter: 14 July 2015
Pluto C/A
12:20
11,095 km
13.78 km/s
Charon C/A
12:34
26,700 km
13.88 km/s
Pluto-Sun Occultation
13:09:57
Charon-Sun Occultation
14:35:37
S/C trajectory time ticks: 10 min
Charon orbit time ticks: 12 hr
Occultation: center time
Position and lighting at Pluto C/A
C/A distances are to body centers
Pluto
Pluto-Earth Occultation
13:10:47
Charon-Earth Occultation
14:37:44
Charon
0.24°
Sun
Earth
13:00
14:00
12:00

30. Pluto-Charon Encounter Highlights
Six months of encounter science.
Exceed Hubble resolution for months.
Map all of Pluto and all of Charon.
Make global composition maps of Pluto and Charon.
Map their surface temperature fields.
Directly measure Pluto’s escape rate and assay its atmospheric structure and composition.
Improve interior models and determine if either Pluto or Charon differentiated.
Locate additional Pluto-system satellites <1 km in diameter.
The most exciting discoveries
will likely be the ones we
Don’t anticipate.

31. Imaging Coverage and SNR
Predicts

32. Composition Mapping
SNR Predicts

33. Radio Occultation Predicts

34. Airglow Model Predicts
UV Occultation and
Airglow Model Predicts

35. On To Kuiper Belt Objects
Ground-based campaign to locate candidate KBOs along the spacecraft nominal trajectory up to 55 AU from Sun.
On-board V is capable of reaching multiple KBOs with size >40 km.
Select first KBO target before Pluto encounter.
Execute a maneuver at P+14 days towards first KBO.
Typical KBO transit time: years.
Region containing
potential KBO targets
55 AU
Sun
Pluto Encounter
33 – 34 AU
KBO1
40 AU
KBO2
50 AU

36. Selected New Horizons KBO Science
Geologic, Photometric, Color Mapping
Composition Mapping (H2O,CO,CO2,CH4)
Stereo Surface Mapping
Thermal Mapping
Atmosphere Search
Measure Sputtering Products
Mass, Density, Figure Measurements
Crater Counts for Impactors <20 m in Size
Satellite Searches to <1 km, with Follow-up Studies

37. New Horizons in Build
Jan 2005

38. New Horizons in Build
Jan 2005
REX
PEPSSI
ALICE
SWAP

39. Atlas V-010 in Build

40. Atlas V-010 in Build

41. Major Project Milestones
Proposal Phase – Jan-Sep 2001
Phase A Study Complete– Oct 2001
Selection – Nov 2001
Phase B Start – Jan 2002
Requirements Review (SRR) – May 2002
Preliminary Design Review (PDR) – Oct 2002
Non-Advocate Review (NAR) – Dec 2002
Phase C/D Start – Apr 2003
Critical Design Review (CDR) – Oct 2003
Instrument Deliveries – July 2004-Mar 2005
Integration & Test – Aug 2004-May 2005
Environmental Test – May-Sep 2005
Ship to Cape – 30 Sep 2005
Launch Readiness Review – 11 Dec 2005
Launch Window Opens– 11 Jan 2006

42. Hardware Status Summary
We are at the L-6 month point.
Spacecraft testing is going well; we are now in the last major environmental test: Thermal-Vac.
The Atlas, RTG, and STAR-48 third stage are all on track.
Project Element
Status
Spacecraft GO
Payload
RTG
Atlas V
STAR-48
PI & Science

43. Toward New Frontiers
New Horizons is Demonstrating That Exciting, Lower Cost Outer Planet Missions Are Indeed Feasible.

44. We Aim to Make This 1990 U.S. Stamp Obsolete
And One More Thing
We Aim to Make This 1990 U.S. Stamp Obsolete

45. An Historic Exploration
New Horizons:
A Journey to New Frontiers