New Horizons was NASA's first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. It conducted a flyby of Pluto on July 14, 2015, returning high-resolution images and data of the dwarf planet and its moons. New Horizons is continuing its journey deeper into the Kuiper Belt to study more Kuiper Belt Objects using its suite of scientific instruments. The mission aims to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of the outer solar system.

1. Saurabh Jindal
14101002
3rd Semester
Aerospace Engineering
PLUTO AND NEW HORIZONS

2. NEW HORIZONS
NASA’s Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission:
“The First Mission To the Ninth
Planet
And the Solar System’s Third Zone”

3.  VOYAGER 1, 1980, flyby Saturn, flyby TITAN
 VOYAGER 2, August 1989, flyby of Neptune
Earlier Attempts

4.  A ring of bodies beyond Neptune
 Pluto, the first KBO to be discovered
Kuiper Belt

5. Pluto: A Little Background
Pluto was discovered in January-
February 1930, by Clyde Tombaugh at
Lowell Observatory, Arizona.
 Pluto is a Small, Distant World
 <1% Mars’s Max Apparent Diameter (0.1 arcsec)
 And 50,000 times fainter than Mars (V~14)

6. Discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh on February 18, 1930. The object
moved, the background stars did not. Lick Observatory images are 1 day
apart

7.  International Astronomical Union (IAU) is the
authority on such matters
 To be a planet, Pluto must:
 Orbit the Sun
 Be round
 Clear the neighborhood around its orbit
 Leaves us with 8 “planets”
 If only “round” and “orbit Sun”, 12 or more
What Is a Planet?

8. Pluto’s Orbit
 248 years to orbit Sun
 Elliptical
 Sometimes is closer to Sun than
Neptune
 Happened 1979-1999
 Inclined (out of plane)
 Never actually crosses Neptune’s
orbit
 Orbits sun exactly 2x when
Neptune orbits 3x

10. Launch of NEW HORIZON

11. Janvier 12 2006
Workshop 3e zone Slide 11
New Horizons trajectory
Pluto-Charon
14 July 2015
KBOs
2016-2020
Jupiter System
28 Feb 2007
Launch
19 Jan 2006

12. Janvier 12 2006Workshop 3e zone Slide 12
Instrument Payload
SWAP
Solar wind
analyzer
PEPSSI
Energetic
particle detector
LORRI
Long-range
visible imager
Ralph
visible pan. and color imager,
IR spectrometer
Alice
UV imaging
spectrometer
REX
Radio science & radiometry
Star Trackers
Guidance and control
+Y
+X
+Z
SDC
Student dust counter
(under spacecraft)

13. JUPITER FLYBY
Jupiter science included studies of Jovian meteorology,
satellite geology and composition,
Auroral phenomena, and magnetospheric physics.
C/A Date 28 Feb 2007
Range 32 RJupiter

14. Janvier 12 2006Workshop 3e zone Slide 14
New Horizons at Pluto
Closest Approach 2015 July 14
• S/C trajectory time ticks: 10 min
• Charon orbit time ticks: 12 hr
• Occultation: center time
• Position and lighting at Pluto C/A
• Distance relative to body center
Pluto
Charon
0.24°
Sun
Earth
12:40
13:40
11:40
Pluto C/A
11:59:00
11,095 km
13.77 km/s
Charon C/A
12:12:52
26,937 km
13.87 km/s
Pluto-Sun Occultation
12:49:00
Pluto-Earth Occultation
12:49:50
Charon-Sun Occultation
14:15:41
Charon-Earth Occultation
14:17:50

15. Pluto on 13th July,2015

16. Pluto on 14th July, 2015

17.  Kuiper Belt Object mission
 Within 55 AU distance
 33kg of fuel left
FUTURE OBJECTIVES

18. THANK YOU
ANY QUESTIONS???