Today was the last possible day for commission controllers to adjust the trajectory of the New Horizons spacecraft as it go about Ultima Thule , a removed Kuiper Belt object . With no detectable dangers in slew , NASA has given the green ignitor for the spacecraft to remain along its optimal path — a trajectory that will leave in an informal flyby in just two weeks sentence .
For the past three week , the New Horizons fortune team has been on the hunt for anything around Ultima Thule , like bits of debris or rock , to warrant a course of action chastening . This heavenly game of Choose Your Own Adventure had one of two potential outcome .
With a clear pathway ahead , New Horizons could stay along its current grade , aim it to within 2,200 miles ( 3,500 kilometre ) of Ultima Thule , also known as 2014 MU69 , during the scheduled January 1 , 2019 , flyby . If chance were find , however , the resulting course correction would have taken the probe three times further away from the mysterious trans - Neptunian target . New Horizons is currently moving at a whopping 31,500 miles per 60 minutes ( 50,700 km per hour ) , a speed at which even a modest Elmer Leopold Rice - sized texture of dust would wreck the spacecraft .
Earlier today , and with no immediate terror detected , NASA give the dark-green light for New Horizons to take the inside trackto Ultima Thule — no form chastening need .
“ The ballistic capsule is now targeted for the optimum flyby , over three time close-fitting than we fly to Pluto , ” New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern said in a affirmation . “ Ultima , here we come ! ”
This is great word , because a more removed flyby would ’ve produced less - elaborate data . New Horizons is nowprojectedto capture trope of Ultima Thule with a firmness as hunky-dory as 98 to 230 foot ( 30 to 70 meters ) per pixel . When it flew past Pluto , the resolution was around 600 feet ( 183 time ) per picture element . Ultima Thule is think to be a stuffy binary system or a physical contact binary ( in which two part are touching ) . The aim , or objects , are around 19 miles in diameter ( 30 km ) and irregularly shaped . Consequently , the incoming figure of speech should be super engrossing .
This is n’t the first meter that the New Horizons hazards team has been put to employment . Three years ago , when New Horizons was approaching Pluto , the team used the probe ’s Long Range Reconnaissance Imager ( LORRI ) to appear for potential hazard . They were touch that Pluto ’s pocket-sized moon had spread dangerous debris across New Horizons ’ path . gratefully , their search yielded nothing , and New Horizons was permit to remain along its intended track through the Plutonian system .
In the face of Ultima Thule , which is located a billion mile past Pluto , the hazards team used LORRI to search for similar threats . Specifically , the team was on the outlook for a reflective closed chain composed of rubble . They also search for tiny moonlets around Ultima Thule . Neither dust nor moons were found , set aside for today ’s “ all percipient ” declaration .
“ Our team feel like we have been riding along with the space vehicle , as if we were mariners perched on the crowing ’s nest of a ship , look out for dangers in advance , ” jeopardy team lead Mark Showalter , of the SETI Institute , articulate in a statement . “ The team was in complete consensus that the spacecraft should remain on the closer trajectory , and missionary work leading adopted our good word . ”
New Horizons is scheduled to make its closest approach to Ultima Thule at 12:33 a.m. EST on January 1 , 2019 . We do n’t be intimate when we can require to see the first close - up photo of Ultima Thule , buttransmissions from New Horizonswill take approximately six hour , seven minutes , and 48 second to reach Earth .
Yes , New Horizons , at nigh 4 billion miles away , you ’re very , very far from menage .
[ NASA New Horizons ]
AstronomyNASANew HorizonsScience
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