Overview of the New Horizons Science Payload

Abstract

The New Horizons mission was launched on 2006 January 19, and the spacecraft is heading for a flyby encounter with the Pluto system in the summer of 2015. The challenges associated with sending a spacecraft to Pluto in less than 10 years and performing an ambitious suite of scientific investigations at such large heliocentric distances (> 32 AU) are formidable and required the development of lightweight, low power, and highly sensitive instruments. This paper provides an overview of the New Horizons science payload, which is comprised of seven instruments. Alice provides spatially resolved ultraviolet spectroscopy. The Ralph instrument has two components: the Multicolor Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC), which performs panchromatic and color imaging, and the Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA), which provides near-infrared spectroscopic mapping capabilities. The Radio Experiment (REX) is a component of the New Horizons telecommunications system that provides both occultation and radiometry capabilities. The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) provides high sensitivity, high spatial resolution optical imaging capabilities. The Solar Wind at Pluto (SWAP) instrument measures the density and speed of solar wind particles. The Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) measures energetic protons and CNO ions. The Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter (VB-SDC) is used to record dust particle impacts during the cruise phases of the mission.

17 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; To appear in a special volume of Space Science Reviews on the New Horizons mission

References in corpus (4)

• Ralph: A Visible/Infrared Imager for the New Horizons Pluto/Kuiper Belt Mission
• The New Horizons Pluto Kuiper belt Mission: An Overview with Historical Context
• The Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) Instrument Aboard New Horizons
• New Horizons: Anticipated Scientific Investigations at the Pluto System

Cited by in corpus (10)

• The Pluto system: Initial results from its exploration by New Horizons
• Surface Compositions Across Pluto and Charon
• The Geology of Pluto and Charon Through the Eyes of New Horizons
• The Pluto System After New Horizons
• Measurement of the Cosmic Optical Background using the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager on New Horizons
• The Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) on the New Horizons Mission
• Realistic Detectability of Close Interstellar Comets
• OSS (Outer Solar System): A fundamental and planetary physics mission to Neptune, Triton and the Kuiper Belt
• In-Flight Performance and Calibration of the LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) for the New Horizons Mission
• Astrophysics with New Horizons: Making the Most of a Generational Opportunity