. 24/7 Space News .
OUTER PLANETS
New Horizons Refines Course for Next Flyby
by Staff Writers
Laurel MD (SPX) Feb 03, 2017


In the New Horizons Mission Operations Center at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, flight controllers (from left) George Lawrence, Josh Albers and Katie Bechtold monitor data from the spacecraft following a successful trajectory correction maneuver on Feb. 1. For a larger version of this image please go here.

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft completed a short propulsive maneuver Wednesday to refine its track toward a New Year's Day 2019 flyby past 2014 MU69, a Kuiper Belt object (KBO) some 4 billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) from Earth.

Telemetry confirming that the engine burn went as planned reached the New Horizons mission operations center at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), via NASA's Deep Space Network stations in Goldstone, California and Canberra, Australia, shortly after 1:15 p.m. EST. The radio signals carrying the data traveled over 3.5 billion miles (5.6 billion kilometers) and took more than five hours to reach Earth at the speed of light.

Operating by timed commands stored on its computer, New Horizons fired its thrusters for just 44 seconds, adjusting its velocity by about 44 centimeters per second, or a little less than one mile per hour. It was the first trajectory maneuver since the team conducted a set of four maneuvers in the fall of 2015 that put the spacecraft on a course for its rendezvous with MU69 on Jan. 1, 2019.

"One mile per hour may not sound like much," said mission Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, "but over the next 23 months, as we approach MU69, that maneuver will add up to an aim point refinement of almost six thousand miles (10,000 kilometers)."

New Horizons Mission Design Lead Yanping Guo, of APL, said Wednesday's burn adjusts for what the team has learned since 2015 from new Hubble Space Telescope measurements of MU69's orbit, as well as the spacecraft's own location.

After the burn the spacecraft transitioned out of a so-called "three-axis stabilized mode," the operating mode that allowed New Horizons to make new telescopic observations of six KBOs over the past week. These science observations will reveal new information on the shapes, surface properties and satellite systems of these objects, in ways that can't be done from Earth. Images from these studies will be transmitted home in the coming weeks.


Comment on this article using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
New Horizons at APL
The million outer planets of a star called Sol






Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
OUTER PLANETS
Pluto Global Color Map
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 20, 2017
This new, detailed global mosaic color map of Pluto is based on a series of three color filter images obtained by the Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera aboard New Horizons during the NASA spacecraft's close flyby of Pluto in July 2015. The mosaic shows how Pluto's large-scale color patterns extend beyond the hemisphere facing New Horizons at closest approach, which were imaged at t ... read more


OUTER PLANETS
A new recruit for ESA's astronaut corps

The Outer Space Treaty has been remarkably successful - but is it fit for the modern age?

Full Braking at Alpha Centauri

New Era of Space Travel: Private Station May Replace ISS by Late 2020

OUTER PLANETS
Commercial Launch of Proton-M Carrier Rocket Planned For Early April - Roscosmos

India to launch record 104 satellites next week

ISRO tests C25 Cryogenic Upper Stage of GSLV MkIII

Russia to call tender for 2nd Phase of Vostochny Spaceport construction in Fall

OUTER PLANETS
UAE Aims to Launch Its First Ever Mars Mission in 2020

Opportunity Takes Advantage of her Location to do a Mini Science Campaign

Swirling spirals at the north pole of Mars

Curiosity rover sharpens paradox of ancient Mars

OUTER PLANETS
China looks to Mars, Jupiter exploration

China's first cargo spacecraft to leave factory

China launches commercial rocket mission Kuaizhou-1A

China Space Plan to Develop "Strength and Size"

OUTER PLANETS
NASA seeks partnerships with US companies to advance commercial space technologies

An exciting year in space for Intelsat

Iridium Adds Eighth Launch with SpaceX for Satellite Rideshare

Space, Ukrainian-style: Through Crisis to Revival

OUTER PLANETS
New beam pattern yields more precise radar, ultrasound imaging

Anatomy of a debris incident

Japan's troubled 'space junk' mission fails

New material that contracts when heated holds great industrial potential

OUTER PLANETS
Santa Fe Institute researchers look for life's lower limits

Dedicated Planet Imager Opens Its Eyes to Other Worlds

New planet imager delivers first science at Keck

First footage of a living stylodactylid shrimp filter-feeding at depth of 4826m

OUTER PLANETS
New Horizons Refines Course for Next Flyby

It's Never 'Groundhog Day' at Jupiter

Public to Choose Jupiter Picture Sites for NASA Juno

Experiment resolves mystery about wind flows on Jupiter









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.