Pluto Spacecraft Begins Launch Preparations
09.26.05
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida for final preparations and testing for the probe’s decade-long journey. It will be the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and its moon, Charon.
New Horizons arrived Saturday at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane. The spacecraft is in a clean room at KSC. It is scheduled to launch on a Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket in January 2006. New Horizons recently completed four months of space-environment tests at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel MD, where it was designed and built.
Carrying seven scientific instruments the compact, nearly 1,000 pound probe will fly by Pluto and Charon as early as summer 2015. Its mission is to characterize the global geology and geomorphology of the bodies, map their surface compositions, record temperatures and examine Pluto's complex atmosphere. Flybys of ancient rocky objects farther out in the solar system may be undertaken during an extended mission.
In October, New Horizons will undergo a series of functional tests, readiness checks, and an “end-to-end” test with the tracking facilities of NASA's Deep Space Network. In November, hydrazine fuel for attitude control and course correction maneuvers will be loaded and the spacecraft will undergo a final spin-balance test.
At the Atlas Space Operations Center on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, processing has begun on the Atlas V. Stacking of the vehicle will begin in early October and completed in late October or early November. In November, a launch countdown rehearsal will be performed. In December, the flight-ready spacecraft will be transported to Launch Complex 41 for hoisting a top the Atlas V.
Following final launch approval, liftoff is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2006 , during a two-hour launch window that opens at 2:07 p.m. EST. Launch windows are also available daily from Jan. 12 through Feb. 14, 2006.
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