For Pluto-Bound NASA Probe, It's Wake-Up Time in Space

[Levina]

For Pluto-Bound NASA Probe, It's Wake-Up Time in Space

Artist's concept of the New Horizons spacecraft as it approaches Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, in July 2015. On Dec. 6, the spacecraft is coming out of hibernation for the last time before it begins taking data.
CREDIT: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute (JHUAPL/SwRI)

A NASA spacecraft will wake up from its final nap today (Dec. 6) to begin preparations for an epic encounter with Pluto and its moons in 2015 that will cap a nine-year trek to the edge of the solar system.

The New Horizons spacecraft left Earth in January 2006 and has traveled about 2.9 billion miles (4.6 billion kilometers) on its way to study Pluto and its largest moon Charon, a few smaller moons and more objects in the Kuiper Belt. The mission has already captured images of Pluto and Charon, but nothing like what it will see on its closest approach in July 2015.

New Horizons has spent about two-thirds of its journey in hibernation mode, during which time most of its computer systems and instruments were shut down to reduce wear and tear, and lower operations costs. The probe sends a weekly signal back to Earth, and is woken up every six to 10 months to assure that it is still operational. [See photos from the New Horizons Pluto Probe]

At 3:30 p.m. EST (2000 GMT) today, the probe's main computer will start waking up the rest of the instruments from their last hibernation. Then, at 5 p.m. (2200 GMT), New Horizons will send a simple confirmation message to scientists at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. Moving at the speed of light, the message will take 4 hours and 25 minutes to travel all the way back to Earth.

"It's tremendously exciting because even though we've hibernated 18 times and recovered each time, this is the one that really counts," said Harold Weaver, project scientist for the New Horizons mission at Johns Hopkins APL. New Horizons will begin taking data on the Pluto region in January.

In February 2007, before entering its first hibernation phase, New Horizons made a close approach to Jupiter, coming "about 3 to 4 times closer" than the Cassini spacecraft, according to the New Horizons website. New Horizons captured stunning images of Jupiter, and also used the planet's gravity to increase its speed by 20 percent, reducing its flight time to Pluto by three years, Weaver said.

Only four other space probes have traveled as far out into the solar system as New Horizons. It will be the first space probe to make a close approach of Pluto, coming within 7,767 miles (12,500 km) of the dwarf planet's surface. The probe will continue on past Pluto and into the Kuiper Belt: a disc-shaped region of icy, rocky bodies that studies show may be the most densely populated region of the solar system. According to Weaver, studying the Kuiper Belt could offer scientific insight into how our solar system formed.

"[With New Horizons], Pluto and its satellites, and the Kuiper belt, […] won't just be unresolved objects or highly pixelated smudges. They'll be real world objects, with complexity and diversity," Weaver saild. "We'll finally be able to see what they look like."

 

[SvenSvensonov]

This is how I feel about this news!!!

Or maybe doing a little dance!

We've already got our colonization plans ready

All jokes aside, hope for a successful mission!!! Let's go NASA!!! Still six months to go! I can't wait that long, I need pics of Pluto now!

 

[Levina]

This is how I feel about this news!!!

View attachment 161621

Or maybe doing a little dance!
View attachment 161622

We've already got our colonization plans ready
View attachment 161623

All jokes aside, hope for a successful mission!!! Let's go NASA!!!

For a moment I thought you were trolling on my thread.
Btw congrats on Orion's success.

 

[jamahir]

New Horizons has spent about two-thirds of its journey in hibernation mode, during which time most of its computer systems and instruments were shut down to reduce wear and tear, and lower operations costs.

why are americans always worried about costs?? they can balance by drastically reducing their military and military industry.

 

[MarkusS]

I cant wait for pics from Pluto. This year and next are awesome. First Rosettas mission to the Comet Gerasimenko. Now Pluto and later the visit on Ceres.

 

[Levina]

why are americans always worried about costs?? they can balance by drastically reducing their military and military industry.

You forgot to mention their nuclear arsenal which even their generals think 're more than what's needed.
Actually it's upto the Govt to do the job of financing such projects cogently.
But then if US reduces it's military then Chinese would be more than happy to step into a position left vacant by US, which is unfathomable.
So I support US.

I cant wait for pics from Pluto. This year and next are awesome. First Rosettas mission to the Comet Gerasimenko. Now Pluto and later the visit on Ceres.

Right!
2014 has been one of the most interesting year (scientifically) till now, atleast for me.

 

[jamahir]

You forgot to mention their nuclear arsenal which even their generals think 're more than what's needed.

that's new to me... which generals??

Actually it's upto the Govt to do the job of financing such projects cogently.
But then if US reduces it's military then Chinese would be more than happy to step into a position left vacant by US, which is unfathomable.

i don't think of the chinese as being imperialist like usa government... china is very nationalist but that's it... that's my view, anyway.

So I support US.

how about russia??

I cant wait for pics from Pluto. This year and next are awesome. First Rosettas mission to the Comet Gerasimenko. Now Pluto and later the visit on Ceres.

i am more interested in ceres/europa/titan than pluto.

 

[SvenSvensonov]

For a moment I thought you were trolling on my thread.
Btw congrats on Orion's success.

I wouldn't troll on a thread about space travel and exploration, I'm really excited for the next phase of the New Horizons project!!! Next to military electronics and my Fiancee', space travel, and especially rockets, is my third favorite thing.

Also, you signature asks for us to decode it, is this right?

Dimag kharab hai u r s*** - and if so, what does it mean?

I know, from my limited understanding, that "dimag kharab" means "annoying person", Dimag means "brain" - Kharab means "bad"... is that right? But I don't know the rest.

 

[jamahir]

Also, you signature asks for us to decode it, is this right?

Dimag kharab hai urs - and if so, what does it mean?

I know, from my limited understanding, that "dimag kharab" means "annoying person", Dimag means "brain" - Kharab means "bad"... is that right? But I don't know the rest.

thanks for describing the way to decode... you are partially correct about the message...

it is actually "dimag kharab hai... u r sh**"... meaning "you are mentally-retarded/idiot... you are sh**"... correct, @levina ??

 

[SvenSvensonov]

thanks for describing the way to decode... you are partially correct about the message...

it is actually "dimag kharab hai... u r sh**"... meaning "you are mentally-retarded/idiot... you are sh**"... correct, @levina ??

Thanks!!! Not a language I understand. If it's not Swedish, English or Russian I'm completely lost. I wasn't sure on the "U R S" part especially, since they weren't separated by a space like the rest of the code, also with asterisks at the front, I wasn't sure if the ones at the back were just "fluff" either.

 

[jamahir]

Thanks!!! Not a language I understand. If it's not Swedish, English or Russian I'm completely lost.

russian?? impressive... was that part of your military duties??

 

[SvenSvensonov]

russian?? impressive... was that part of your military duties??

No, my fiancee' is Russian and has been teaching me. As for English and Swedish, one is the language of my home nation, the other is the language of my host nation.

 

[jamahir]

No, my fiancee' is Russian and has been teaching me.

nice that such a thing is possible now.

I wasn't sure on the "U R S" part especially, since they weren't separated by a space like the rest of the code, also with asterisks at the front, I wasn't sure if the ones at the back were just "fluff" either.

levina was being cunning... but two minds decoded her message not too slowly...

 

[SvenSvensonov]

levina was being cunning... but two minds decoded her message not too slowly...

It's certainly a lot more cunning when you don't understand the language with any proficiency, makes discerning letters from words a bit more challenging . Also @levina - I've derailed this thread too much, sorry!!! To get it back on track I'll offer this:

New Horizons Set to Wake Up for Pluto Encounter

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft comes out of hibernation for the last time on Dec. 6. Between now and then, while the Pluto-bound probe enjoys three more weeks of electronic slumber, work on Earth is well under way to prepare the spacecraft for a six-month encounter with the dwarf planet that begins in January.

“New Horizons is healthy and cruising quietly through deep space – nearly three billion miles from home – but its rest is nearly over,” says Alice Bowman, New Horizons mission operations manager at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md. “It’s time for New Horizons to wake up, get to work, and start making history.”

Since launching in January 2006, New Horizons has spent 1,873 days in hibernation – about two-thirds of its flight time – spread over 18 separate hibernation periods from mid-2007 to late 2014 that ranged from 36 days to 202 days long.

In hibernation mode much of the spacecraft is unpowered; the onboard flight computer monitors system health and broadcasts a weekly beacon-status tone back to Earth. On average, operators woke New Horizons just over twice each year to check out critical systems, calibrate instruments, gather science data, rehearse Pluto-encounter activities and perform course corrections when necessary.

New Horizons pioneered routine cruise-flight hibernation for NASA. Not only has hibernation reduced wear and tear on the spacecraft’s electronics, it lowered operations costs and freed up NASA Deep Space Network tracking and communication resources for other missions.

Ready to Go

Next month’s wake-up call was preprogrammed into New Horizons’ on-board computer in August, commanding it come out of hibernation at 3 p.m. EST on Dec. 6. About 90 minutes later New Horizons will transmit word to Earth that it’s in “active” mode; those signals, even traveling at light speed, will need four hours and 25 minutes to reach home. Confirmation should reach the mission operations team at APL around 9:30 p.m. EST. At the time New Horizons will be more than 2.9 billion miles from Earth, and just 162 million miles – less than twice the distance between Earth and the sun – from Pluto.

After several days of collecting navigation-tracking data, downloading and analyzing the cruise science and spacecraft housekeeping data stored on New Horizons’ digital recorders, the mission team will begin activities that include conducting final tests on the spacecraft’s science instruments and operating systems, and building and testing the computer-command sequences that will guide New Horizons through its flight to and reconnaissance of the Pluto system. Tops on the mission’s science list are characterizing the global geology and topography of Pluto and its large moon Charon, mapping their surface compositions and temperatures, examining Pluto’s atmospheric composition and structure, studying Pluto’s smaller moons and searching for new moons and rings.

New Horizons’ seven-instrument science payload, developed under direction of Southwest Research Institute, includes advanced imaging infrared and ultraviolet spectrometers, a compact multicolor camera, a high-resolution telescopic camera, two powerful particle spectrometers, a space-dust detector (designed and built by students at the University of Colorado) and two radio science experiments. The entire spacecraft, drawing electricity from a single radioisotope thermoelectric generator, operates on less power than a pair of 100-watt light bulbs.

Distant observations of the Pluto system begin Jan. 15 and will continue until late July 2015; closest approach to Pluto is July 14.

“We’ve worked years to prepare for this moment,” says Mark Holdridge, New Horizons encounter mission manager at APL. “New Horizons might have spent most of its cruise time across nearly three billion miles of space sleeping, but our team has done anything but, conducting a flawless flight past Jupiter just a year after launch, putting the spacecraft through annual workouts, plotting out each step of the Pluto flyby and even practicing the entire Pluto encounter on the spacecraft. We are ready to go.”

“The final hibernation wake up Dec. 6 signifies the end of an historic cruise across the entirety of our planetary system,” added New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute. “We are almost on Pluto’s doorstep!”

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory manages the New Horizons mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is the principal investigator and leads the mission; SwRI leads the science team, payload operations, and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. APL designed, built and operates the New Horizons spacecraft.

Request Rejected - Ok, that's weird... but the link should still work.

 

[Levina]

that's new to me... which generals??

Thats what this article says no names mentioned.
America needs to shrink its nuclear arsenal | GulfNews.com

i don't think of the chinese as being imperialist like usa government... china is very nationalist but that's it... that's my view, anyway.

Name one of China's neighbor with whom they've pleasant realtions??
And then you will know why I said that.

how about russia??

I'm fine with Russia.
I dont see Russia as an ambitious country which would run amok.Their interests lie mostly in central Asia.

i am more interested in ceres/europa/titan than pluto.

Titan- Yes.
They say its wet like earth.

I wouldn't troll on a thread about space travel and exploration, I'm really excited for the next phase of the New Horizons project!!! Next to military electronics and my Fiancee', space travel, and especially rockets, is my third favorite thing.

Also, you signature asks for us to decode it, is this right?

Dimag kharab hai u r s*** - and if so, what does it mean?

I know, from my limited understanding, that "dimag kharab" means "annoying person", Dimag means "brain" - Kharab means "bad"... is that right? But I don't know the rest.

wow!!
But that was too easy isnt it?
I seriously didnt think anybody here would even try to decode it. Try this "J lopx xibu zpv eje mbtu po qeg"

you are sh**"... correct, @levina ??

Noooh. I didnt mean that.
URS just meant ur's.Infact the code should've read " ur dimaag is kharab", but frankly i didnot even imagine somebody would decode it like this.

I've derailed this thread too much, sorry!!! To get it back on track I'll offer this:

why do i get a feeling that you 're an expert in decoding?

New Horizons Set to Wake Up for Pluto Encounter

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft comes out of hibernation for the last time on Dec. 6. Between now and then, while the Pluto-bound probe enjoys three more weeks of electronic slumber, work on Earth is well under way to prepare the spacecraft for a six-month encounter with the dwarf planet that begins in January.

“New Horizons is healthy and cruising quietly through deep space – nearly three billion miles from home – but its rest is nearly over,” says Alice Bowman, New Horizons mission operations manager at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md. “It’s time for New Horizons to wake up, get to work, and start making history.”

Since launching in January 2006, New Horizons has spent 1,873 days in hibernation – about two-thirds of its flight time – spread over 18 separate hibernation periods from mid-2007 to late 2014 that ranged from 36 days to 202 days long.

In hibernation mode much of the spacecraft is unpowered; the onboard flight computer monitors system health and broadcasts a weekly beacon-status tone back to Earth. On average, operators woke New Horizons just over twice each year to check out critical systems, calibrate instruments, gather science data, rehearse Pluto-encounter activities and perform course corrections when necessary.

New Horizons pioneered routine cruise-flight hibernation for NASA. Not only has hibernation reduced wear and tear on the spacecraft’s electronics, it lowered operations costs and freed up NASA Deep Space Network tracking and communication resources for other missions.

Ready to Go

Next month’s wake-up call was preprogrammed into New Horizons’ on-board computer in August, commanding it come out of hibernation at 3 p.m. EST on Dec. 6. About 90 minutes later New Horizons will transmit word to Earth that it’s in “active” mode; those signals, even traveling at light speed, will need four hours and 25 minutes to reach home. Confirmation should reach the mission operations team at APL around 9:30 p.m. EST. At the time New Horizons will be more than 2.9 billion miles from Earth, and just 162 million miles – less than twice the distance between Earth and the sun – from Pluto.

After several days of collecting navigation-tracking data, downloading and analyzing the cruise science and spacecraft housekeeping data stored on New Horizons’ digital recorders, the mission team will begin activities that include conducting final tests on the spacecraft’s science instruments and operating systems, and building and testing the computer-command sequences that will guide New Horizons through its flight to and reconnaissance of the Pluto system. Tops on the mission’s science list are characterizing the global geology and topography of Pluto and its large moon Charon, mapping their surface compositions and temperatures, examining Pluto’s atmospheric composition and structure, studying Pluto’s smaller moons and searching for new moons and rings.

New Horizons’ seven-instrument science payload, developed under direction of Southwest Research Institute, includes advanced imaging infrared and ultraviolet spectrometers, a compact multicolor camera, a high-resolution telescopic camera, two powerful particle spectrometers, a space-dust detector (designed and built by students at the University of Colorado) and two radio science experiments. The entire spacecraft, drawing electricity from a single radioisotope thermoelectric generator, operates on less power than a pair of 100-watt light bulbs.

Distant observations of the Pluto system begin Jan. 15 and will continue until late July 2015; closest approach to Pluto is July 14.

“We’ve worked years to prepare for this moment,” says Mark Holdridge, New Horizons encounter mission manager at APL. “New Horizons might have spent most of its cruise time across nearly three billion miles of space sleeping, but our team has done anything but, conducting a flawless flight past Jupiter just a year after launch, putting the spacecraft through annual workouts, plotting out each step of the Pluto flyby and even practicing the entire Pluto encounter on the spacecraft. We are ready to go.”

“The final hibernation wake up Dec. 6 signifies the end of an historic cruise across the entirety of our planetary system,” added New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute. “We are almost on Pluto’s doorstep!”

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory manages the New Horizons mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is the principal investigator and leads the mission; SwRI leads the science team, payload operations, and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. APL designed, built and operates the New Horizons spacecraft.

Request Rejected - Ok, that's weird... but the link should still work.

Thanks for that one...the good news is that New horizon woke up.
Whats even interesting is that after Pluto New Horizons' team is planning to send the probe past another icy object in the Kuiper Belt, the ring of cosmic material that lies beyond Neptune's orbit, in late 2018 or 2019. The probe's computer will also be reprogrammed to carry digital "selfies to the stars,".
@jamahir @SvenSvensonov why would it send its digital selfies to stars???

It's Alive! NASA's New Horizons Pluto Probe 'Wakes Up' for Work - NBC News