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RTG Mount
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The special properties of titanium; high strength per
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n weight and low heat transfer are well suited to
tab supporting the heavy RTG during launch and keeping
the very warm RTG from over-heating the spacecraft
end
and instruments
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Sitting just below the tank is a low gain antenna whichs provides low
speed communications with Earth when the spacecrafts high gain
antenna is pointing away.
The weight of the spacecraft structure
is minimized by using honeycomb
The reaction control system is the sole means the New Horizons spcecraft
aluminum panels. The 1 thick panels
are made of 1/8 cell aluminum
has to alter its course after it seperates from the launch vehicle 3rd
honeycomb core with 0.005 thick stage. With the ability to change its speed by less than 300 m/s, New
aluminum foil sheets bonded to each Horizons will only be able to alter its course by less than two degrees at
face. This design cuts the weight of Pluto. In-ight manuevers must be carefully budgeted to save propellant
each panel to 1/9 that of an equally for Kuiper Belt Object intercept manuevers.
strong solid aluminum panel.
Some of the instruments names are acronyms made up from longer names, but
others are not. In particular the original, longer name of the acronym Alice no
longer ts. Likewise when MVIC and LEISA were combined into a new
instrument, there was no reasonable acronym, so who better to
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accompany Alice to the moon Charon, than Ralph?
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SWAP
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The Solar Wind At Pluto instrument will measure
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Reconnaissance Imager is the highest resolution
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Alice
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Star Trackers
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observed star elds against an on-board that separates light into its
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spectrometer" both
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produces an image of
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wavelengths. Fold
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As the New Horizons mission progresses, maintaining the internal temperature
is a changing balance between heat production and heat loss. Early in the
mission solar heating and excess heat from the RTG power system has to be
radiated away. As the spacecraft recedes from the sun and RTG heat
production drops, keeping every bit of available heat becomes critical.
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Shunt Radiators
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bac off-white and located around the outer spacecraft are used to
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essentially heat deep space.
Bottom Deck
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Louvered Radiators
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Center Column
The lower edge of the center column mates to the
third stage of the New Horizons launch vehicle. It
absorbs much of the forces during launch. After
third stage burnout, four spring loaded attachment
points are released pushing the spacecraft clear of
the spent rocket.
Radioactive Decay
Many elements occur in various different The RTGs on New Horizon use an isotope of
forms, called isotopes, which differ in Plutonium Pu238, which has 6 too few neutrons. As it
the number of neutrons in their decays to a stable state, Pu238 emits radiation
nuclei. The decit or surplus of alpha mainly in the form of alpha particles, which consist
particle
neutrons make the nuclei of two protons and two neutrons bound
energetically unstable causing together into a particle identical to a helium
them to, randomly over time, drop nucleus. At launch the RTG will produce
or decay to more stable states. In heat
about 250 watts of electrical power using the
decaying to the more stable states heat of Pu238 decay. With a Pu238 half-life
the energy difference is released as (the time it takes for half of the radioisotope to
free particles and heat which radiates Pu
238
nucleus decay) of 88 years, the RTG power will drop to
away. about 200 watts when New horizons reachs Pluto.
When the New Horizons spacecraft is at Pluto its radio signals will take 4 hours 25
minutes to reach Earth. Along the way the 15 watts from the spacecrafts
transmitter will spread out and drop to tens of nano watts collected by the 70m
(230 ft) dishes of the Deep Space Network. If there is enough electrical power at
Pluto, both halves of the spacecrafts redundant radio
system can be used to boost the combined
data rate to 1500 bits per second.
HGA t
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extra material
handling
High Gain Antenna
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Secondary Supports
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extra material
transmission. A larger dish
handling
for
not only collects more
incoming signal, it also
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forms the outgoing signal
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extra material
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HGA Feedhorn
The feedhorn directs the radio
extra material for handling
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REX Supports
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extra material
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