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from the johns hopkins applied physics

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laboratory in laurel maryland welcome to

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the nasa new horizons mission countdown

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to pluto i'm mike buckley from apl

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communications and public affairs

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bringing you the first of these weekly

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updates from pluto's doorstep as we

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count down to new horizons historic

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flight through the pluto system on july

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14th

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it took more than nine years and a

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voyage of three billion miles to get

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here the mission team has been looking

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forward to this for a long time and we

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five

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four

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three

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we have ignition

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and liftoff of nasa's new horizons

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spacecraft on a decade-long voyage to

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we're 34 days from the pluto flyby the

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spacecraft is traveling at about 750 000

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miles a day

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now just about 26 million miles from

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pluto

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new horizons is a key part of nasa's

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exploration of our solar system joining

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me to talk about that is jimmy lee

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nasa's new frontier is program mission

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manager jimmy welcome thanks glad to be

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here

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horizons fits in to nasa's exploration

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of the solar system sure mike

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new horizons will provide us

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a completion of our preliminary

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exploration of our

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solar system

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the classical planets um

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it'll provide us our first up close and

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personal look at pluto and its moons

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it's very important from a nasa

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perspective it's it's one of a number of

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missions in our portfolio that will

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provide for exploration of our solar

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system and beyond

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new horizons is actually the first of

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this class admissions new frontiers

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program

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tell us a little bit about new horizons

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in that program and where new horizons

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fits into new frontiers

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well new new horizons was judged to be a

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the highest science priority at the time

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is the first of the new frontiers class

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of missions with the study of pluto and

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the kuiper belt will allow us to gain an

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understanding of that region of our

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solar system and and you know open the

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door for future exploration

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now with that new frontiers line too

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you're you're responsible for a pretty

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interesting line of missions you know

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that go to some extreme places in here

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what are we waiting for to see from new

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horizons you know once it gets to pluto

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well it's really the the exciting part

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about it is what we don't know i mean

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with with expiration and discovery you

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know you don't know what what awaits us

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out there thanks jimmy

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alan stern is the new horizons principal

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investigator new horizons is the first

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outer planets mission led by a principal

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investigator who's charged with managing

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the entire mission from developing a

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concept and assembling a team to

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building a spacecraft and delivering new

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science data alan thank you for joining

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us thank you before we start getting

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into mission updates tell us first about

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the new horizons mission

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well new horizons is the first mission

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to explore the pluto system it's a flyby

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like all the other first missions to the

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closer planets

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but it's a 21st century spacecraft the

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fastest ever launch going the farthest

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any spacecraft ever has to reach its

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primary target

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and armed with a very sophisticated

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payload of seven

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very high-tech very powerful scientific

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instruments so that we can write the

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textbook on what the pluto system is all

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about and how it came to be yeah like a

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lot to learn in this case new horizons

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is a mission of first there are a lot of

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firsts on this mission obviously it's

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the first mission to the pluto system

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it's also the first mission to what we

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call the third zone of the solar system

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the kuiper belt

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it's the first mission in nasa's new

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frontiers program of pi led missions and

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it just happens to be the first

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pi led mission ever to the outer planets

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so there are a lot of firsts and new

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horizons there's also one last which i

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think is very important to the mission

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and that is that we at pluto are

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completing what was begun in the 1960s

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by nasa with the first missions to

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planets

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venus and mars and across that 50-year

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period the united states has explored

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all the planets and we're kind of

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running the anchor leg with pluto to

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finish the relay

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you know in fact i could even go back

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farther it would seem like this mission

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almost started in 1930 and when clyde

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tombaugh discovered what we thought was

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just this oddball planet on the edge of

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the solar system but as it turned out it

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was actually the first of a whole new

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class of worlds that new horizons is

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traveling to in a place that we're just

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now beginning to learn about right in

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1930 when

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tombow at lowell observatory discovered

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pluto he had no idea that he actually

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uncovered the biggest structure in the

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solar system the kuiper belt the third

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zone as we call it sometimes we call it

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the twilight zone because the lighting

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levels are so low

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and this region of the solar system uh

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wasn't really anticipated

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in fact across the whole of the middle

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of the 20th century out into the late

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20th century we just thought pluto was

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an oddball didn't fit the pattern of

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being one of the inner rocky planets the

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terrestrials didn't fit with the giant

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planets at all

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it was just off there on its own and

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then beginning in the 90s

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uh planetary scientists began to

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discover

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small objects comets and and uh the

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building blocks of small planets that

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orbit in the kuiper belt region it's

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teeming with these small objects

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pluto is the biggest and brightest by a

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long way but eventually as more and more

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data was taken on the kuiper belt it was

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discovered that the kuiper belt also

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contains

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a handful of other small planets other

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plutos even though they're different

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different compositions different numbers

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of moons

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some have atmospheres some do not but

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this is pluto's cohort this is pluto's

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family and it's the third class of

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planet in the solar system the small ice

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dwarfs

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and our first look to at one of these

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objects is new horizons so tell us about

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the spacecraft you know what was put

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together to get that data and get that

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first look right we built a really high

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tech very small spacecraft about the

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size of a baby grand piano even with the

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fuel on board it weighs less than a

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thousand pounds the spacecraft has

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tremendous capability for conducting a

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reconnaissance flyby fast turns very

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large solid-state memories for storing

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data fast bus speeds on the spacecraft

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so we can take data from up to five

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instruments at once

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many other capabilities as well and

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highly miniaturized so that we could be

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very light and get a very fast launch as

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a result of that on board the spacecraft

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the real business end of the mission is

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the scientific payload we have seven

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scientific instruments on board

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we have nine cameras for mapping we have

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two spectrometers for atmospheric and

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surface composition we have the

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capability to do thermal mapping on

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board to measure dust particles uh dust

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impact rates

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in the solar system and also at pluto to

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sample the material coming off pluto's

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atmosphere determine its density and its

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composition so there's a very powerful

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suite of instruments and

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because we miniaturize them it's amazing

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all seven combined way less than just

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the camera on the cassini saturn orbiter

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and combined when we turn them all on

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we're talking 28 watts that's like a

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night light to run all these high-tech

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instruments in their computers

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so

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what are these instruments and what are

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they going to learn what are they going

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to gather in the pluto system what are

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the goals we're going to bring back from

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pluto when we fly through that system

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mike we're going to write the textbook

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we know very little about the pluto

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system now it's really a mission of raw

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exploration flying into the unknown to

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see what's there so we're going to

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produce maps of pluto's surface in black

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and white and in color

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in medium resolution and high resolution

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the same for pluto's big moon sharon

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we're also going to image all of the

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small moons we're going to search for

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new moons we're going to search for

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rings we're going to determine the

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atmospheric composition it's structure

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with altitude we're going to determine

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the atmospheric escape rate whether the

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atmosphere has an ionosphere

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and then we're going to measure make

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composition maps so that every pixel

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will have a spectrum on pluto 64 000

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locations and we're going to do similar

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mapping of the big moon sharon and lower

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resolution mapping of the smaller moons

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and that's not the full list but it

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gives you an idea

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for the range and variety of data sets

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for example i didn't tell you anything

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about stereo mapping but that's

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something else we're going to do that's

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going to give us the ability to

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reconstruct the topography on pluto's

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surface in 3d

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i mean it's already getting the idea

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that this is this isn't just a weekend

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of pluto this idea right the fly by

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itself is july 14th but it's a long it's

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a six-month encounter you know beginning

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back in january

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what have we learned so far are we

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learning things about pluto now that we

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didn't know before new horizons started

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speeding closer to the pluto system well

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that's another great question we

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started in january with environmental

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monitoring the the region of space where

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pluto orbits and we're using the plasma

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instruments on board to study the

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heliospheric environment we're now using

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the alice ultraviolet spectrometer to

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also study the charged particle

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populations out there the dust

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instrument is on and it's measuring the

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dust impact rates in the kuiper belt and

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as we started to draw closer in april we

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started to image the system with lori

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which is our long-range reconnaissance

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imager lori's already detected what we

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think is a polar cap on pluto

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other very large

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surface markings some are bright some

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are very dark we don't really understand

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why pluto should be so contrasty but

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i've never seen an object

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in my career in planetary science that

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looks this interesting at low resolution

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and i think it really it really promises

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over the next few weeks to get to be a

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better and better ride as we start to

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uncover what's really there

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i want to talk about that right we

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mentioned earlier just in your

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introduction the role the principal

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investigator but you know as we're

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getting close to pluto i mean we're on

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pluto's doorstep

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to tell us a little bit about what it's

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like to be leading this team this is a

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mission you've worked on for a long time

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to be this close just take us through

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what you're thinking guiding this team

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to that ultimate

295
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well you know new horizons is a small

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team compared to

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some missions uh when we were building

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it there were 2 500 americans that were

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involved in building the spacecraft the

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payload the ground system

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and the rocket of course the launch

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vehicle

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but in flight

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it's been a very small team about 50

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people until recently we've staffed up

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for the encounter but we've got experts

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in guidance in spacecraft systems and

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the science mission operations mission

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planning

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all the disciplines that you need and

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this is one charged up team they know

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that they're getting to do something

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very special because nothing like this

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has happened before

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since the 1980s that's the last time you

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know voyager had a flyby at neptune and

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nothing like this is planned to happen

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again

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ever by any space agency and so the team

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is not only psyched up they know that

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they're doing something very very

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important that we only get one shot at

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and leading an effort like that is just

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it's humbling it's a privilege

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and it's exhilarating at the same time

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because we're going to turn a point of

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light into a planet and its moons

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overnight in the next month thanks alan

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we've heard from the principal

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investigator now it's time for a mission

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each week we'll provide updates on

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spacecraft operations and mission

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science and to give us the operations

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update is mark holdridge the new

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horizons encounter mission manager

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mark you've had roles on many missions

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tell us a little bit about your role on

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new horizons well as an encounter

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mission manager my responsibilities

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primarily for planning and execution of

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the flyby as you know there's a tightly

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choreographed sequence of events that

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take place around the time of the flyby

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and a very diverse team of navigators

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scientists engineers and operations

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personnel and so we have to all work

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together to optimize the timeline and

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reduce risk and come up with the plan if

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you will that we then execute so i've

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been spending the past several years

351
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running a number of different meetings

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and having uh technical discussions with

353
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the team members to try to you know

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refine the timeline and come up with a

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good plan for how to do all the

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operations

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so you mentioned that team take us

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through what the team has been going

359
00:13:23,990 --> 00:13:22,320
through the last couple of weeks yeah so

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we we've really turned the corner on the

361
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operation in the past week where what i

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00:13:30,310 --> 00:13:28,639
would say on final approach we've

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transitioned from spin mode where we

364
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were playing back the recorder data to

365
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make room for the data that we're going

366
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to be recording in the weeks ahead

367
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we've begun the final op nav imaging

368
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campaign and also resume science

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operations and those will continue now

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seamlessly through the flyby so we don't

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have any more periods uh downtime where

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we're spending the spacecraft everything

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is up and running now as it will be

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throughout the whole flyby you mentioned

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opnav navigation right so uh tell us how

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you're guiding new horizons toward the

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pluto system well we start off with what

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we call an a priori estimate for where

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pluto is and we

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revise that estimate with earth-based

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observations as well as the spacecraft's

382
00:14:14,389 --> 00:14:12,959
trajectory and then we difference those

383
00:14:16,230 --> 00:14:14,399
two to

384
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determine you know what maneuvers to do

385
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to get to pluto

386
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starting the beginning of this year

387
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though we really transition to a

388
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relative body type navigation using

389
00:14:27,910 --> 00:14:25,680
optical navigation using the

390
00:14:30,310 --> 00:14:27,920
spacecraft's onboard camera and imaging

391
00:14:32,389 --> 00:14:30,320
pluto directly and figuring out from the

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spacecraft's perspective where it's

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headed you know relative to pluto and as

394
00:14:38,150 --> 00:14:36,320
we get closer and closer to pluto and it

395
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gets bigger and bigger in the frame we

396
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come up with more refined estimates and

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we continue to tweak those estimates on

398
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approach and determine uh when and or if

399
00:14:48,150 --> 00:14:46,959
we need to correct a spacecraft

400
00:14:49,670 --> 00:14:48,160
trajectory

401
00:14:51,269 --> 00:14:49,680
now we haven't done many of those

402
00:14:52,710 --> 00:14:51,279
maneuvers right i get an indication that

403
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the spacecraft has generally been on

404
00:14:56,389 --> 00:14:53,600
track

405
00:14:58,550 --> 00:14:56,399
yeah we had one maneuver in march and we

406
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have a number of placeholders

407
00:15:02,470 --> 00:15:00,639
in the weeks ahead in case we need to do

408
00:15:04,949 --> 00:15:02,480
it to tweak the trajectory or as a

409
00:15:07,030 --> 00:15:04,959
hazard avoidance type maneuver

410
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but we expect we're really hopeful that

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we'll have one maybe two more maneuvers

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so we want to be very careful about when

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we do the maneuver so that

414
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we don't have to do another one after it

415
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you know so we're trying to

416
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economize on the number of maneuvers

417
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and either way just to get to this point

418
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it's a pretty precise operation

419
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during the flyby pluto yes i mean we're

420
00:15:28,629 --> 00:15:26,800
trying to hit a very small box

421
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relatively speaking it's

422
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60 by 90 miles and we're going 30 000

423
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miles per hour and we're trying to hit

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that box within a plus or minus 100

425
00:15:39,590 --> 00:15:37,680
seconds and that's really necessary we

426
00:15:41,030 --> 00:15:39,600
want to do that to

427
00:15:42,790 --> 00:15:41,040
ensure that we achieve the science

428
00:15:44,150 --> 00:15:42,800
objectives of the mission

429
00:15:45,749 --> 00:15:44,160
so what's next for the team over the

430
00:15:48,389 --> 00:15:45,759
next couple of weeks well we're going to

431
00:15:50,870 --> 00:15:48,399
continue to monitor the trajectory again

432
00:15:52,710 --> 00:15:50,880
using the optical navigation as well as

433
00:15:55,509 --> 00:15:52,720
radiometric tracking from the deep space

434
00:15:57,829 --> 00:15:55,519
network and it can continue to tweak you

435
00:15:59,990 --> 00:15:57,839
know the trajectory if we if we deem it

436
00:16:02,150 --> 00:16:00,000
necessary and of course science is

437
00:16:03,829 --> 00:16:02,160
ongoing we're continuing to image pluto

438
00:16:05,910 --> 00:16:03,839
as it's getting bigger and bigger and

439
00:16:07,110 --> 00:16:05,920
starting to show some of its features

440
00:16:09,430 --> 00:16:07,120
and

441
00:16:11,749 --> 00:16:09,440
all this is happening in parallel

442
00:16:13,269 --> 00:16:11,759
all right well thanks mark now speaking

443
00:16:21,189 --> 00:16:13,279
of science now let's get a science

444
00:16:24,550 --> 00:16:22,790
providing our science update this week

445
00:16:26,629 --> 00:16:24,560
is hal weaver the new horizons project

446
00:16:28,310 --> 00:16:26,639
scientist the one thing i always found

447
00:16:29,749 --> 00:16:28,320
interesting about your job as project

448
00:16:31,509 --> 00:16:29,759
scientists is you're sort of the go

449
00:16:33,430 --> 00:16:31,519
between a dual role between the

450
00:16:35,030 --> 00:16:33,440
spacecraft team and the science team

451
00:16:36,470 --> 00:16:35,040
yeah that's right mike i mean we have

452
00:16:38,069 --> 00:16:36,480
come from two very different cultures

453
00:16:40,470 --> 00:16:38,079
you know this the

454
00:16:42,870 --> 00:16:40,480
engineers they really are in charge of

455
00:16:44,790 --> 00:16:42,880
uh getting what we need uh but we have

456
00:16:47,269 --> 00:16:44,800
to let them know what we need uh the

457
00:16:49,749 --> 00:16:47,279
scientific objectives of the mission uh

458
00:16:50,949 --> 00:16:49,759
is specified by the the science team but

459
00:16:52,710 --> 00:16:50,959
there are a lot of details that have to

460
00:16:54,949 --> 00:16:52,720
be worked out nice i'm that interface

461
00:16:57,670 --> 00:16:54,959
that liaison between the two groups

462
00:16:58,870 --> 00:16:57,680
right so the flyby is july 14th we heard

463
00:17:00,710 --> 00:16:58,880
earlier about some of the overall

464
00:17:02,629 --> 00:17:00,720
science goals of the mission but this is

465
00:17:05,110 --> 00:17:02,639
a six month encounter and we're already

466
00:17:06,870 --> 00:17:05,120
getting some results oh absolutely we've

467
00:17:08,549 --> 00:17:06,880
in fact already taken images with higher

468
00:17:11,189 --> 00:17:08,559
resolution than what's ever been done

469
00:17:13,110 --> 00:17:11,199
before and it just gets better every day

470
00:17:14,870 --> 00:17:13,120
every week we come in and we're

471
00:17:16,630 --> 00:17:14,880
squeezing as much information as we

472
00:17:18,390 --> 00:17:16,640
possibly can out of these images and

473
00:17:19,750 --> 00:17:18,400
seeing details

474
00:17:21,029 --> 00:17:19,760
like we've never seen before and it's

475
00:17:22,470 --> 00:17:21,039
just getting better and better all right

476
00:17:25,189 --> 00:17:22,480
so what are we learning about pluto so

477
00:17:27,029 --> 00:17:25,199
far yeah so so far actually the uh what

478
00:17:29,029 --> 00:17:27,039
we've learned from the hubble previous

479
00:17:31,510 --> 00:17:29,039
hubble observations about dark spots and

480
00:17:33,669 --> 00:17:31,520
bright spots on pluto seems to be pretty

481
00:17:36,630 --> 00:17:33,679
much borne out by the new

482
00:17:38,150 --> 00:17:36,640
new horizons images but now what we're

483
00:17:41,270 --> 00:17:38,160
really going to be trying to do as we

484
00:17:42,789 --> 00:17:41,280
fly by pluto is learn why you know why

485
00:17:44,549 --> 00:17:42,799
are we having you know what's causing

486
00:17:46,950 --> 00:17:44,559
these bright and dark spots on pluto

487
00:17:48,230 --> 00:17:46,960
exactly what is it now you're taking

488
00:17:49,430 --> 00:17:48,240
different types of images too there's

489
00:17:50,789 --> 00:17:49,440
some for the surface but there are also

490
00:17:52,230 --> 00:17:50,799
some that are looking deeper into the

491
00:17:54,150 --> 00:17:52,240
pluto system yeah that's right we

492
00:17:56,150 --> 00:17:54,160
basically have two big objectives in

493
00:17:58,310 --> 00:17:56,160
mind one is to to just get better

494
00:18:00,710 --> 00:17:58,320
resolution on pluto and sharon but in

495
00:18:03,270 --> 00:18:00,720
addition we're also taking very deep

496
00:18:05,029 --> 00:18:03,280
long exposure photographs of the system

497
00:18:06,789 --> 00:18:05,039
images of the system in order to look

498
00:18:09,270 --> 00:18:06,799
for new satellites and

499
00:18:11,110 --> 00:18:09,280
dust particles that may pose a hazard to

500
00:18:12,950 --> 00:18:11,120
the new horizon spacecraft as it flies

501
00:18:14,630 --> 00:18:12,960
by now we haven't seen anything yet but

502
00:18:16,630 --> 00:18:14,640
we're like you know up in the in the

503
00:18:18,789 --> 00:18:16,640
crow's nest on this on the spacecraft

504
00:18:20,310 --> 00:18:18,799
coming in and looking for anything that

505
00:18:22,070 --> 00:18:20,320
might harm us okay so that's what we

506
00:18:24,390 --> 00:18:22,080
have so far what's next on the science

507
00:18:26,549 --> 00:18:24,400
plan so you know just better and better

508
00:18:29,510 --> 00:18:26,559
basically as we come closer and closer

509
00:18:31,990 --> 00:18:29,520
to pluto getting more resolution on the

510
00:18:34,070 --> 00:18:32,000
on the uh on pluto and sharon going

511
00:18:36,150 --> 00:18:34,080
deeper and deeper uh you know we're

512
00:18:38,150 --> 00:18:36,160
already well below what has been done

513
00:18:40,310 --> 00:18:38,160
from earth-based observations in terms

514
00:18:42,310 --> 00:18:40,320
of looking for new satellites and and

515
00:18:43,430 --> 00:18:42,320
dust in the system so anything you see

516
00:18:45,270 --> 00:18:43,440
from this point on would be something

517
00:18:46,630 --> 00:18:45,280
new all of this is new from now on it's

518
00:18:47,590 --> 00:18:46,640
new and it's just getting better and

519
00:18:49,110 --> 00:18:47,600
better

520
00:18:50,710 --> 00:18:49,120
thanks hal

521
00:18:53,430 --> 00:18:50,720
so that's the latest from nasa's new

522
00:18:56,310 --> 00:18:53,440
horizons mission on pluto's doorstep

523
00:18:59,350 --> 00:18:56,320
34 days and 26 million miles to go until

524
00:19:00,950 --> 00:18:59,360
the pluto flyby the countdown continues

525
00:19:02,789 --> 00:19:00,960
i'm mike buckley from the johns hopkins