Mission Pluto - In depth New Horizons Mission Pluto

 Mission Pluto 

New Horizons spacecraft that is the first spacecraft that travel very closely from the route near the Pluto, by traveling near the dwarf planet and its natural satellite on the date July 14,2015. In early 2019, New Horizons spacecraft flew past its second important target 2014 MU69, This is the most distant object that explored very closely.

The mass of the New Horizons Spacecraft is about 1054 pounds or 478 kilograms.

This Mission Design and Management by NASA/ johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory i.e. APL.

Pluto
Image credit : theverge.com

In depth New Horizons Mission Pluto : 

    The New Horizons is the mission of NASA to understand our dwarf planet Pluto, its natural satellite and other in the Kuiper Belt.The region of our solar system that are extended from near the orbit of the Neptune, to the sun it is about 30 AU and about 50 AU respectively.

New horizon
Image credit : space.com

That was the first mission from the NASA's New Frontiers program. Juno and OSIRIS-REx are also included in this program.

The New Horizons was the first spacecraft that reaches the dwarf planet Pluto. When it reach the Pluto system, the new horizons spacecraft that traveled forward longer time its about more than nine years than any space craft ever launched. 

The design of the space craft built by the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University this design was based on the lineage traced back. 

New Horizons carries a cylindrical radioisotope thermoelecteric generator this generator produce about 250 watts as per the time this isotope was decay and the time of the encounter of the Pluto it reaches about 200 watts.

New horizon 
Image credit : nasa.gov

When the spacecraft reaches the initial part of the earth's orbit at about 105X130 miles or 167 X 213 kilometers, the Centaur upper stage was fired and about nine minutes to set the orbit to the asteroid belt.

Now when the time of the second firing of the Star 48B the solid rocket of the spacecraft that are ignited at the velocity about 36400 miles or about the 58536 kilometers per hour this was the highest launch velocity that attained by the human-made spacecraft. Now the spacecraft was set on trajectory to outer reaches solar system.

Controllers implemented course corrections Jan. 28, Jan. 30 and March 9, 2006. A month later, on April 7, 2006, New Horizons passed the orbit of Mars.28 ,on. 30 and March 9, 2006. After a month on April 7, 2006 the New Horizons reaches the orbit of the Mars.

There are some more chance to test some spacecraft's instruments like visible and infrared imager and spectrometer this event occurred on June 13, 2006 when the new horizons travel by the tiny asteroid 132524APL about the range 101867 kilometers.

The spacecraft passed the largest planet of our solar system i.e. jupiter The closest approach at time 5:43:40 UT. This encounter helps to increase the velocity the speed of the spacecraft about 14,000 kilometer per hour this helps to the journey to make short. about three years to passed pluto.

During this journey the new horizons carried detailed set of observations over the period of time.