New Horizons Research Paper
New Horizons
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Missions beyond Mars
Design challenges for long missions
Electrical power
Launch
Jupiter gravity assist
Zipping by Jupiter
Plans for Pluto
Beyond Pluto
Exploring the Kuiper Belt
Current Status
Introduction
New Horizons is a NASA New Frontiers mission managed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Launched on January 19, 2006, the New Horizons spacecraft is due to pass Jupiter on February 28, 2007, en route to photographing and examining Pluto and other objects in the Kuiper Belt. Currently traveling at over 51,000 miles per hour, New Horizons was the fastest spacecraft ever launched. Yet, it will require eight more years to reach planet Pluto, which will …show more content…
Our launch vehicles are no powerful enough to send massive spacecraft directly to the giant planets, so they must take circuitous paths returning to Earth or even traveling inward to Venus for gravity assists to boost momentum enough to send them beyond the asteroid belt. Rendezvousing with asteroids and comets can be even more challenging; they lack sufficient mass to brake fast-moving spacecraft into orbit, so the ships must perform years of orbit adjustment to match position and velocity with the tiniest worlds.
Power is also a problem. Located very far from the Sun, comets, outer planets, and most asteroids receive very little solar energy. Solar arrays must be very large to gather the little sunlight, like those of Rosetta, Dawn, and Juno; or else spacecraft must carry radioisotope thermoelectric generators. The successes of missions like Voyager, Pioneer, Galileo, Cassini-Huygens, and New Horizons require these nuclear power supplies, but Earth has run short of refined plutonium-238, preventing us from planning future …show more content…
This was the first launch of the 551 configuration of the Atlas V, as well as the first Atlas V launch with an additional third stage (Atlas V rockets usually do not have a third stage). Previous flights had used none, two, or three solid boosters, but never five. This puts the Atlas V 551 take-off thrust, at well over 2,000,000 lb, past the Delta IV-Heavy. The major part of this thrust is supplied by the Russian RD-180 engine, providing 4.152 MN. The Delta IV-H remains the larger vehicle, at over 1,600,000 lb (726,000 kg) compared to 1,260,000 lb of the AV-010. The Atlas V rocket had earlier been slightly damaged when Hurricane Wilma swept across Florida on October 24, 2005. One of the solid rocket boosters was hit by a door. The booster was replaced with an identical unit, rather than inspecting and prequalifying the
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Missions beyond Mars
Design challenges for long missions
Electrical power
Launch
Jupiter gravity assist
Zipping by Jupiter
Plans for Pluto
Beyond Pluto
Exploring the Kuiper Belt
Current Status
Introduction
New Horizons is a NASA New Frontiers mission managed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Launched on January 19, 2006, the New Horizons spacecraft is due to pass Jupiter on February 28, 2007, en route to photographing and examining Pluto and other objects in the Kuiper Belt. Currently traveling at over 51,000 miles per hour, New Horizons was the fastest spacecraft ever launched. Yet, it will require eight more years to reach planet Pluto, which will …show more content…
Our launch vehicles are no powerful enough to send massive spacecraft directly to the giant planets, so they must take circuitous paths returning to Earth or even traveling inward to Venus for gravity assists to boost momentum enough to send them beyond the asteroid belt. Rendezvousing with asteroids and comets can be even more challenging; they lack sufficient mass to brake fast-moving spacecraft into orbit, so the ships must perform years of orbit adjustment to match position and velocity with the tiniest worlds.
Power is also a problem. Located very far from the Sun, comets, outer planets, and most asteroids receive very little solar energy. Solar arrays must be very large to gather the little sunlight, like those of Rosetta, Dawn, and Juno; or else spacecraft must carry radioisotope thermoelectric generators. The successes of missions like Voyager, Pioneer, Galileo, Cassini-Huygens, and New Horizons require these nuclear power supplies, but Earth has run short of refined plutonium-238, preventing us from planning future …show more content…
This was the first launch of the 551 configuration of the Atlas V, as well as the first Atlas V launch with an additional third stage (Atlas V rockets usually do not have a third stage). Previous flights had used none, two, or three solid boosters, but never five. This puts the Atlas V 551 take-off thrust, at well over 2,000,000 lb, past the Delta IV-Heavy. The major part of this thrust is supplied by the Russian RD-180 engine, providing 4.152 MN. The Delta IV-H remains the larger vehicle, at over 1,600,000 lb (726,000 kg) compared to 1,260,000 lb of the AV-010. The Atlas V rocket had earlier been slightly damaged when Hurricane Wilma swept across Florida on October 24, 2005. One of the solid rocket boosters was hit by a door. The booster was replaced with an identical unit, rather than inspecting and prequalifying the