New Horizons' unknown target
New Horizons, the unmanned NASA probe headed to Pluto, has one surprising primary goal: it's targeting something we haven't even discovered yet.
New Horizons will take 9 years just to reach Pluto-Charon. Its mission could last into 2020, 14 years after its 2006 launch date. It's a remarkable mission because our understanding of its flight path has changed markedly since the design was finalized in the early 2000's. Pluto has gone from the ninth planet to just one of many dwarf planets, and the brightest of the Kuiper Belt. And not even the biggest.
They know that New Horizons can deflect somewhat after the Pluto fly-by. They know it can last an additional 5 years before the signal gets too weak. So that forms a volume in space - a cone - where it could go. And they know the statistical density of Kuiper Belt Objects. So they fully expect to find one or more ~50km objects that New Horizons can buzz.
Apparently, the search for these objects won't even start until 2010 or 2011. Pluto and the objects behind it currently are in front of the galactic core. There's too much noise. Plus they need the really big telescopes to have a chance at this.
But no sweat. They're pretty sure they'll get one.
Anyhow, I thought that was cool - "audacious", as someone in a forum said.
New Horizons will take 9 years just to reach Pluto-Charon. Its mission could last into 2020, 14 years after its 2006 launch date. It's a remarkable mission because our understanding of its flight path has changed markedly since the design was finalized in the early 2000's. Pluto has gone from the ninth planet to just one of many dwarf planets, and the brightest of the Kuiper Belt. And not even the biggest.
They know that New Horizons can deflect somewhat after the Pluto fly-by. They know it can last an additional 5 years before the signal gets too weak. So that forms a volume in space - a cone - where it could go. And they know the statistical density of Kuiper Belt Objects. So they fully expect to find one or more ~50km objects that New Horizons can buzz.
Apparently, the search for these objects won't even start until 2010 or 2011. Pluto and the objects behind it currently are in front of the galactic core. There's too much noise. Plus they need the really big telescopes to have a chance at this.
But no sweat. They're pretty sure they'll get one.
Anyhow, I thought that was cool - "audacious", as someone in a forum said.