For 17 years, the New Horizons spacecraft has been hurtling at unprecedented speeds across the solar system. Launched in 2006, it flew past Pluto in July 2015, producing the first close-up images of the planet and its moons. Then, in 2019, the probe spied the Arrokoth Kuiper Belt Object (KBO). Both encounters produced stunning images and a treasure trove of transformative data.
With budget cuts for 2024, NASA is making several important decisions… one of which includes drastically slashing New Horizons’ funding by replacing current science staff with a new team in an effort to save an estimated $3 million—a rounding error in terms of planetary science budgets.
The mission’s principal investigator from the start, Dr. Alan Stern, was not happy with this situation. “New Horizons is the only spacecraft in the Kuiper Belt, and the only one currently planned to go there. We have valuable new Kuiper Belt observations, and a search for new flyby targets, to be completed each year until we leave the Belt. Stopping this exploration prematurely, after spending nearly $1 billion to get New Horizons into the Kuiper Belt, appears to many of us to be a tragic mistake, a poor use of taxpayers’ money, and a lost scientific opportunity that can never be recovered.”
Related: NASA may be turning its New Horizons Pluto probe to a mission to study the sun
Currently, New Horizons is due to exit the Kuiper Belt around 2028 and will continue to operate until 2050. “The spacecraft continues to fly in excellent health today, returning data from the outer reaches of the solar system and preparing for a possible KBO rendezvous. other. But recent events threaten the continuation of this Kuiper Belt mission,” Stern added.
While we would expect some cuts across NASA’s programs and missions, New Horizons’ current budget is on par with other space exploration veterans, Voyagers 1 and 2. We’re talking well under $10 million a year. which in government terms is a very small cost… especially when you consider the cost of getting a spaceship the way it is today. It’s a cost, and the potential for the ongoing science gain from this mission is a boon.
When New Horizons flies past Pluto, it returns an unprecedented view of a previously mysterious world and its massive moon, Charon. Previously, the best images of Pluto came from the Hubble Space Telescope and were only a few pixel smudges. The images and data returned from New Horizons overturns many assumptions not only about Pluto and Charon, but also about the outer solar system.
“New Horizons is literally writing a book about Pluto and its moon system. Before New Horizons, almost nothing was known. Today the spacecraft and the New Horizons team have made Pluto one of the most famous worlds in the solar system,” said Stern.
Artist’s impression of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft
New Horizons’ next adventure is in the Kuiper Belt, a region beyond Neptune’s orbit filled with rock and ice left over from the early era of the solar system. Stern’s team has their eyes on KBO 486958 Arrokoth, which turns out to be another golden opportunity.
“Arrokoth may be more important than our discovery on Pluto,” commented Stern. “For decades, there have been two conflicting computer models of how planets originate and planetesimals form. The first is via a high-speed collision in its orbit around the sun, and the other is via a localized collapse cloud with a very gentle crash.” After a thorough inspection of Arrokoth, the final model was validated. “It turns out that these objects collided at very low speeds, more like hitting a wall than a supersonic impact. When we saw Arrokoth up close, we realized from its shape and general surface geology that it was built through a gentle process. increase,” he added. Only through direct observation can this argument be resolved.
If NASA ends up cutting funding for this modestly budgeted mission, a new team will be formed—presumably one with no direct experience operating the outer solar system—with focus shifted to collecting low-level data on the heliophysics, the plasma environment of deep Earth. sun. This reduced mission will only take advantage of a fraction of the spacecraft’s ongoing science capabilities.
“We’ve been flying for 18 years, and we have the prospect of flying on Voyager,” which has now been for 46 years, Stern said. “At that point we will go beyond Kuiper Belt exploration and enter interstellar space.” Specifically, while Voyager is currently exploring the same interstellar region, they are doing so with ancient 1970s technology and instruments that will be discontinued as they age, and mission operations are slated to scale back to a stop within a decade or so. “New Horizons will be able to survive into at least the middle of the 21st century,” Stern added, “with near-advanced instrumentation that will be able to change our view of interstellar space just as it has changed our view of interstellar space. understanding of Pluto and KBO. But none of this justifies current restrictions on Kuiper Belt exploration.”
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With a spacecraft worth nearly $1 billion and a suite of modern instruments at stake, it would be a waste to ignore how much valuable and unique data would be lost as the mission shifted—data that included Kuiper Belt clues to the formation of our solar system.
Groups such as the National Space Society and others have petitioned, to be forwarded to NASA and Congress, on Change.org. Notable voices supporting the continuation of the mission as it is currently carried out include renowned rock musician and astrophysicist Sir Brian May, former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, and science communicator Bill Nye.
Only through public action will our voice be heard and this mission can continue to its fullest potential. It may be decades before another robotic aircraft is delivered this way; maybe longer. Your voice matters. Go to the Save New Horizons petition page to let NASA know science matters.
2023-08-26 21:35:59
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