Space Topics: New Horizons
Mission Objectives
The Pluto system on May 18, 2005
Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (JHU/APL), A. Stern (SwRI), and the
HST Pluto Companion Search Team |
Pluto is a unique and unexplored planet in our solar system.
The New Horizons mission aims to investigate Pluto, its moon Charon, and the
nearby Kuiper Belt, including the following objectives:
Map surface temperature and composition of Pluto and Charon
Because of Pluto’s unique nature as an ice dwarf and a binary
world, this can give us special insight into the formation development
of ours as well as other planetary systems.
Characterize the surface geology and morphology of Pluto and Charon
New Horizons photo maps of Charon and Pluto should be able to resolve
surface details down to one kilometer (0.6 mile) across. Current best images
from the Hubble Space Telescope only have a resolution of about 500 kilometers.
The highest resolution images of selected areas will resolve features only
60 meters across. Some areas will be covered more than once from different
angles, permitting "stereo" or 3D maps to be made of Pluto's
and Charon's surfaces. Following the closest approach, some areas of the
night side of Pluto will be mapped using the faint reflected light from
Charon!
Characterize the neutral atmosphere of Pluto and its escape rate
Studying
the way Pluto’s atmosphere leaks into space (called “hydrodynamic
escape”) may help us understand the way our own primordial atmosphere
developed.
Search for an atmosphere around Charon
Current images of Charon seem
to imply that the moon lacks an atmosphere. The
New Horizons mission would aim to discover whether this is true, and,
if it is, why this is the case.
Search for rings and additional satellites around Pluto
Two of Pluto’s
moons, known for now as S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2, were discovered very recently. They
are very small (less than 150 kilometers or 100 miles in diameter) and
two to three times as far from Pluto as Charon. There could well
be other undiscovered objects near Pluto.
Conduct a similar set of investigations at one or more other Kuiper belt
objects
Pluto is one of the largest of the denizens of the Kuiper belt. Further
investigations at smaller Kuiper belt bodies -- probably ones that
will be discovered while New Horizons is en route to Pluto -- will
help determine whether Pluto and Charon are representative or atypical
members of the Kuiper belt
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