PDS_VERSION_ID = PDS3 LABEL_REVISION_NOTE = " 2018-08-15 SOC:Enke Initial version; 2020-03-06 SOC:Redfern Added SternEtAl Reference 2020-03-31 SOC:Redfern Refined language 2020-06-20 SOC:Redfern Added Kem1 language 2021-03-09 SOC:Keeney Fixed typos and updated tenses " RECORD_TYPE = STREAM OBJECT = MISSION MISSION_NAME = "NEW HORIZONS KUIPER BELT EXTENDED MISSION" OBJECT = MISSION_INFORMATION MISSION_START_DATE = 2016-10-26 MISSION_STOP_DATE = 2021-09-30 MISSION_ALIAS_NAME = "NH_KEM" MISSION_DESC = " This material has been adapted from the New Horizons web site. The mission stop date is the current stop date of the Kuiper Belt (KB) Extended Mission (KEM). The MISSION_STOP_DATE is the current contracted mission stop date. If approved KEM1's phase may exceed this date and therefore the end is TBD. Summary ======= Launch: January 19, 2006 Launch Vehicle: Atlas V 551 first stage; Centaur second stage; STAR 48B solid rocket third stage Location: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida Trajectory: To Pluto and the Kuiper Belt via Jupiter Gravity Assist Mission Overview ================ The New Horizons Kuiper Belt Extended Mission is a mission to a recently discovered, unexplored region of the solar system, the Kuiper Belt. The centerpiece of the mission is a close flyby of Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) 2014 MU69 (Arrokoth). The mission will also aggressively survey the KB using NH as an observatory, examining many other Kuiper Belt Objects and Centaurs while studying the Kuiper Belt dust, gas, plasma, and energetic particle environments. Doing so will place both 2014 MU69 and the Pluto system in better context among Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), increasing scientific understanding of both. Mission Design ============== The New Horizons spacecraft trajectory was designed to optimize the earliest possible Pluto fly-by. Post-Pluto modifications of the trajectory were limited by the need to conserve fuel. A campaign to discover suitable Kuiper Belt Objects within the cone of possible New Horizons trajectory changes revealed five candidates. In June, 2016, based on the 2016 Planetary Mission Senior Review Panel report, NASA directed the New Horizons extended mission to plan for continued operations through fiscal year 2021. The New Horizons extended mission included a visit to a Kuiper Belt Object known as 2014 MU69. The spacecraft passed 2014 MU69 with closest approach on Jan 1, 2019. As an extended mission to a target of opportunity, design options for the New Horizons Kuiper Belt Extended Mission were limited. 2014 MU69 was observed using the same instruments and procedures as proved so effective for studying the Pluto system in 2015. See the New Horizons Mission catalog file for more information on mission design and target opportunities within the primary mission phase. Mission Phases ============== Summary of mission phases ------------------------- Mission phases provide convenient handles and approximate time boundaries to 1) partition the data into very broad categories of mission activity 2) provide approximate time boundaries for PDS archive data sets The mission is continuous, so the boundaries are very soft i.e. in an operational sense they do not exist in a noticeable way. That being the case, the user should not expect the actual range of times covered by data in this data set to exactly agree with the boundaries of the corresponding mission phase described below; the data set time range may be far less or it may overlap the boundaries. See the New Horizons Mission catalog file for an extended explanation of mission phases. Some primary mission phases are included in the table below, for convenience and continuity. Full MISSION_PHASE_NAME, Short name Start(1,3) Stop(2,3) plus optional Description ---------- ---------- --------- ------------------------- LAUNCH 2006-01-19 2006-12-31 POST-LAUNCH CHECKOUT JUPITER 2007-01-01 2007-06-26 JUPITER ENCOUNTER PLUTOCRUISE 2007-06-27 2015-01-15 PLUTO CRUISE, Jupiter-Pluto/Charon Interplanetary Cruise PLUTO 2015-01-15 2016-10-26 PLUTO ENCOUNTER, Pluto mission phase, Pluto/Charon approach, flyby, post-encounter KEMCRUISE1 2016-10-26 2018-08-14 CRUISE TO FIRST KBO ENCOUNTER, Kuiper belt Extended Mission (KEM) first cruise KEM1 2018-08-14 TBD KEM1 ENCOUNTER, KBO1 ENCOUNTER, KBO1 approach, flyby, post-encounter (4) Notes: 1 Start at 00:00:00 UTC on the spacecraft that day 2 End before 00:00:00 UTC on the spacecraft next day 3 Start and end dates are not exact and identical for all instruments; some instruments take single observations over several days which span these mission phase boundaries. Late (re)playbacks can also require the inclusion of new or modified data files from an earlier mission phase. 4 These mission phase dates and/or designations are still under consideration and will most likely change in future versions of this mission catalog. The Extended Voyage ------------------- KEM Cruise1 ----------- Short phase name (in DSID): KEMCRUISE1 Formal mission phase name: CRUISE TO FIRST KBO ENCOUNTER Mission Phase Start Time - 2016-10-26 Mission Phase Stop Time - 2018-08-14 Activities during the KEMCRUISE1 mission phase to the first KBO encounter are similar to those for Pluto Cruise phase. They also include post-Pluto encounter calibrations in mid-2016, along with continuing download of data from the Pluto encounter. The name and times chosen for this mission phase are still in flux and may change in the future. KEM 1 Encounter --------------- Short phase name (in DSID): KEM1 Formal mission phase name: KEM1 ENCOUNTER Mission Phase Start Time - 2018-08-14 Mission Phase Stop Time - TBD Activities during the extended mission include imaging of distant Kuiper belt objects throughout the extended mission, a close encounter with the cold classical Kuiper belt object (486958) Arrokoth on January 1, 2019, a post-Arrokoth encounter calibration campaign in mid-2019, continued particle, plasma, and dust observations, observations testing new flight software developments, along with download of data from all of these activities. There are also occasional additional observations as opportunities arise, such as color observations of Uranus and Neptune, observations of zodiacal dust, and observations of stars for an outreach-oriented stellar parallax campaign. The name and times chosen for this mission phase are still in flux and may change in the future. [STERNETAL2019] discusses the initial results from the Arrokoth flyby. Mission phases and sub-phases in data products ============================================== Those general phase descriptions above were implemented slightly differently in mission data products. A table of data product mission phase and sub-phase designations follows. Again, primary mission phases are included for convenience and continuity. +-------------+-------------+------------+----------+-----------+ | Phase | Sub-phase | UTC | DOY | MET | +-------------+-------------+------------+----------+-----------+ | CHECKOUT | | 2006-01-16 | 2006-016 | -324483 | | | LAUNCH | 2006-01-16 | 2006-016 | -324483 | | JUPITER | | 2007-01-01 | 2007-001 | 29915517 | | | JUPITER | 2007-01-01 | 2007-001 | 29915517 | | PLUTOCRUISE | | 2007-06-29 | 2007-180 | 45381117 | | | PLUTOCRUISE | 2007-06-29 | 2007-180 | 45381117 | | | ACO1 | 2007-09-24 | 2007-267 | 52897917 | | | ACO2 | 2008-01-01 | 2008-001 | 61451517 | | | ACO3 | 2009-01-01 | 2009-001 | 93073917 | | | ACO4 | 2010-01-01 | 2010-001 | 124609917 | | | ACO5 | 2011-01-01 | 2011-001 | 156145917 | | | ACO6 | 2012-01-01 | 2012-001 | 187681917 | | | ACO7 | 2013-01-01 | 2013-001 | 219304317 | | | ACO8 | 2014-01-01 | 2014-001 | 250840317 | | PLUTO | | 2015-01-15 | 2015-015 | 283585917 | | | AP1 | 2015-01-15 | 2015-015 | 283585917 | | | AP2 | 2015-04-05 | 2015-095 | 290497917 | | | AP3 | 2015-06-23 | 2015-174 | 297323517 | | | CORE | 2015-07-07 | 2015-188 | 298533117 | | | DP1 | 2015-07-16 | 2015-197 | 299310717 | | | DP2 | 2015-08-04 | 2015-216 | 300952317 | | | DP3 | 2015-10-22 | 2015-295 | 307777917 | | KEMCRUISE1 | | 2016-10-26 | 2016-300 | 339745917 | | | KEMCRUISE1 | 2016-10-26 | 2016-300 | 339745917 | | KEM1 | | 2018-08-14 | 2018-226 | 396489600 | | | KEM1 | 2018-08-14 | 2018-226 | 396489600 | +-------------+-------------+------------+----------+-----------+ " MISSION_OBJECTIVES_SUMMARY = " Group 1 Objectives: Mandatory Science Floor Characterize the global geology and morphology of MU69. Map surface composition of MU69. Search for and characterize any satellites and rings of MU69. Group 2 Objectives: Highly Desired Characterize composition and magnitude of any volatile or dust escape from MU69. Characterize near-surface day and night temperatures and bolometric albedo of MU69. Characterize regolith scattering properties of MU69 and any satellites and rings. Determine MU69 crater size/frequency distributions. Characterize shapes, rotation rates, and pole positions of a range of small KBOs. Search for satellites of a range of small KBOs. Search for rings of a range of KBOs. Group 3: Desirable MU69 solar wind, charged particle, and dust interaction. MU69 plasma and dust environment (near 42-46 AU). Determine bulk parameters (mass, density) of MU69. Characterize the dust, neutral gas, solar wind, and energetic particle environment across the Kuiper Belt (35-50 AU). " END_OBJECT = MISSION_INFORMATION OBJECT = MISSION_HOST INSTRUMENT_HOST_ID = "NH" OBJECT = MISSION_TARGET TARGET_NAME = "ASTEROID 486958 (2014 MU69)" END_OBJECT = MISSION_TARGET OBJECT = MISSION_TARGET TARGET_NAME = "CALIBRATION" END_OBJECT = MISSION_TARGET OBJECT = MISSION_TARGET TARGET_NAME = "DUST" END_OBJECT = MISSION_TARGET OBJECT = MISSION_TARGET TARGET_NAME = "SOLAR WIND" END_OBJECT = MISSION_TARGET END_OBJECT = MISSION_HOST OBJECT = MISSION_REFERENCE_INFORMATION REFERENCE_KEY_ID = "NASAAO2001" END_OBJECT = MISSION_REFERENCE_INFORMATION OBJECT = MISSION_REFERENCE_INFORMATION REFERENCE_KEY_ID = "LUNINEETAL1995" END_OBJECT = MISSION_REFERENCE_INFORMATION OBJECT = MISSION_REFERENCE_INFORMATION REFERENCE_KEY_ID = "STERNETAL2019" END_OBJECT = MISSION_REFERENCE_INFORMATION END_OBJECT = MISSION END