Zespół NH został sformowany w grudniu 2000, więc może będą dążenia, by uczcić szczególnie 250-lecie USA ?SwRI to plan Pluto orbiter missionOct. 30, 2019 — NASA has funded Southwest Research Institute to study the important attributes, feasibility and cost of a possible future Pluto orbiter mission. This study will develop the spacecraft and payload design requirements and make preliminary cost and risk assessments for new technologies.
The study is one of 10 different mission studies that NASA is sponsoring to prepare for the next Planetary Science Decadal Survey. The results of these studies will be delivered to the National Academy Planetary Decadal Study that will begin in 2020.
The SwRI-led New Horizons mission — which flew past Pluto and its system of moons and then Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) 2014 MU69, the farthest, most primordial object visited to date — has returned data that has made a compelling case for a follow-up mission.
“We’re excited to have this opportunity to inform the decadal survey deliberations with this study,” said SwRI’s Dr. Carly Howett, who is leading the effort. “Our mission concept is to send a single spacecraft to orbit Pluto for two Earth years before breaking away to visit at least one KBO and one other KBO dwarf planet.”
Despite all that New Horizons revealed about the Pluto system and KBOs, it could only begin to explore complex Pluto and its five moons. Additionally, the New Horizons spacecraft carried only a limited payload and many aspects of KBO and dwarf planet science require different kinds instrumentation and the kind of global and temporal coverage that only an orbiter can provide. A Pluto orbiter mission will be designed to answer some of the questions New Horizons discoveries have sparked.
“In an SwRI-funded study that preceded this new NASA-funded study, we developed a Pluto system orbital tour, showing the mission was possible with planned capability launch vehicles and existing electric propulsion systems,” said SwRI’s Dr. Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission as well as the SwRI-funded study. “We also showed it is possible to use gravity assists from Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, to escape Pluto orbit and to go back into the Kuiper Belt for the exploration of more KBOs like MU69 and at least once more dwarf planet for comparison to Pluto.”
For more information, visit Planetary Science or contact Deb Schmid, +1 210 522 2254, Communications Department, Southwest Research Institute, PO Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228-0510.
https://www.swri.org/press-release/pluto-orbiter-mission-decadal-survey-studyNASA commissions plan for Pluto orbital missionBy David Szondy October 30, 2019
NASA has commissioned Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to study the feasibility of sending an orbital mission to Pluto. One of 10 mission studies funded by NASA for the Planetary Science Decadal Survey, its goal is to send an
unmanned spacecraft to make a two-year study to the dwarf planet as well as two other Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). (...)
Though the details of the new craft are sketchy, it would have a larger payload than New Horizons and more advanced instruments more suitable for an orbital mission. In addition, the goal of visiting other KBOs
suggests that it will include some sort of ion drive. (...)
“In an SwRI-funded study that preceded this new NASA-funded study, we developed a Pluto system orbital tour, showing the mission was possible with planned capability launch vehicles and existing electric propulsion systems,” said SwRI’s Dr. Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission and the SwRI-funded study. “We also showed it is possible to use gravity assists from Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, to escape Pluto orbit and to go back into the Kuiper Belt for the exploration of more KBOs like MU69 and at least once more dwarf planet for comparison to Pluto.”
https://newatlas.com/space/nasa-commissions-plan-for-pluto-orbital-mission/NASA Green Lights Study for Orbital Mission to PlutoBy Mike Killian, on October 30th, 2019
(...) Now, NASA has given funding to the mission’s team at Southwest Research Institute (SWRI) to start seriously looking into it and study the attributes, feasibility and cost of such a mission, develop the spacecraft and payload design requirements, and “make preliminary cost and risk assessments for new technologies,” according to SWRI.
It’s one of 10 different mission studies that NASA is sponsoring to prepare for the next Planetary Science Decadal Survey, the results of which the agency will hand over to the National Academy Planetary Decadal Study that will begin in 2020.
“We’re excited to have this opportunity to inform the decadal survey deliberations with this study,” said SwRI’s Dr. Carly Howett, who is leading the effort. “Our mission concept is to send a single spacecraft to orbit Pluto for two Earth years before breaking away to visit at least one KBO and one other KBO dwarf planet.” (...)
https://www.americaspace.com/2019/10/30/nasa-green-lights-study-for-orbital-mission-to-pluto/
Wątek: Misja orbitalna do Plutona (Przeczytany 7456 razy)