New Horizons & Stardust update

Friday, January 06, 2006


New Horizons update

The New Horizons mission to Pluto is still targeting Jan. 17 as a
launch date, NASA says, but the agency has not yet revealed the
details of the fuel-tank analysis engineers completed this week. We're
awaiting the official report from headquarters. The tank on the Atlas
5 rocket was inspected via boroscope to make sure it had not suffered
any signs of stress after fueling during the wet dress rehearsal. The
need for an inspection - and launch delay - arose when testing of
another tank, after many more pressure cycles, caused it to fail when
pushed to its limit. Principal investigator Alan Stern's update on the
New Horizons site says all has been quiet with the spacecraft, other
than loading of final flight parameters in its computers earlier this
week. He also says Jan. 17 is still the target for launch from the
Cape. The window closes Feb. 14, but the craft must launch by Jan. 28
to get to Pluto as early as 2015, with a gravity assist from Jupiter.
Later launch dates push arrival times further into the future. There's
also a backup launch window next year. The latest arrival at Pluto
would be 2020.

posted by Chris Kridler at 1:57 PM

Stardust nearing Earth

A little more than a week from now, the Stardust spacecraft will
release its sample return capsule, filled with particles from comet
Wild 2, for a plunge through the atmosphere to Utah's desert.
Thursday, says NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, the spacecraft successfully
fired its eight thrusters to get it lined up for the Earth encounter
in the early morning hours of Jan. 15. There will be one more
trajectory adjustment before the capsule is released. Stardust flew
close to the nucleus of the comet two years ago; it launched from Cape
Canaveral in 1999. We'll be covering the return to Earth live online
.... stay tuned.

posted by Chris Kridler at 11:54 AM