New Horizons

New Horizons was the first spacecraft targeted on Pluto, the last unvisited body of the nine original planets known at the beginning of the space age. It was equipped with seven science instruments designed to measure the surface properties, geology, interior makeup and atmospheres of Pluto, its moon Charon, and other Kuiper-Belt planetoids. Following launch in 2006, the robot explorer would swing by Jupiter in February 2007 to achieve a gravity boost, but still only reach Pluto-Charon in July 2015. The spacecraft would then continue on into infinity, being operated from 2016-2020 as it was to fly by other Kuiper Belt objects.

The science payload consisted of:

• Ralph: Visible and infrared imager/spectrometer; provided color, composition and thermal maps.
• Alice: Ultraviolet imaging spectrometer; analyzed composition and structure of Pluto's atmosphere and looked for atmospheres around Charon and Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs).
• REX: (Radio Science EXperiment) Measured atmospheric composition and temperature; passive radiometer.
• LORRI: (Long Range Reconnaissance Imager) telescopic camera; obtained encounter data at long distances, mapped Pluto's farside and provided high resolution geologic data.
• SWAP: (Solar Wind Around Pluto) Solar wind and plasma spectrometer; measured atmospheric "escape rate" and observed Pluto's interaction with solar wind.
• PEPSSI: (Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation) Energetic particle spectrometer; measured the composition and density of plasma (ions) escaping from Pluto's atmosphere.
• SDC: (Student Dust Counter) Built and operated by students; measured the space dust peppering New Horizons during its voyage across the solar system.

New Horizons was the first mission in what NASA called its New Frontiers Program, planetary missions managed by the principal investigators, taking lessons from the low success rate of the previous Discovery Program mission. Total cost for New Horizons over the entire 15 year mission, was $700 million, including spacecraft and instrument development, launch vehicle, mission operations, data analysis, and education/public outreach.

Development Cost $: 700.000 million. Length: 2.10 m (6.80 ft). Basic Diameter: 0.70 m (2.29 ft). Span: 2.70 m (8.80 ft). Mass: 478 kg (1,053 lb). Payload: 77 kg (169 lb). Main Engine Thrust: 4.40 N (0.90 lbf). Main Engine Propellants: Hydrazine. Main Engine Propellants: 77 kg (169 lb). Electrical System: 1 x Pu-238 radioisotope thermoelectric generator. Electric System: 0.20 average kW.

• 2006 January 19 - New Horizons - Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Atlas V. Mass: 478 kg (1,053 lb).

  Last robotic mission to an unexplored planet in our solar system. New Horizons was due to receive a gravity boost from Jupiter in February 2007, then fly by Pluto in 2015. During launch toward Jupiter it reached a higher velocity than any manmade object, and was the first to be boosted directly to solar escape velocity. The trajectory had a perihelion of 0.98 AU, an inclination of 0.87 deg and an eccentricity of 1.03. After the Jupiter encounter it was to have a perihelion of 2.2 AU, an inclination of 2.3 deg and an eccentricity of 1.40. At encounter with Pluto on July 14, 2015, the spacecraft would be 1.1 AU above the ecliptic plane and 32.9 AU from the Sun, leaving the solar system toward the star Xi Sgr.