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Illustration of
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft encountering 2014 MU69 – nicknamed “Ultima
Thule” – a Kuiper Belt object that orbits one billion miles beyond Pluto. Set
for New Year’s 2019, New Horizons’ exploration of Ultima will be the farthest
space probe flyby in history. Credit:
NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
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Ken Kremer --SpaceUpClose.com &
RocketSTEM –28 December 2018
JHU APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY, MD / KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Three Days and Counting !!! All spacecraft systems are ‘GO’ for the New Year’s Eve Flyby of NASA New Horizons spacecraft past ‘Ultima Thule’ – for a once in a lifetime encounter with the small icy rock in the Kuiper Belt located some 1 Billion miles beyond Pluto and 4 Billion miles from the Sun. It counts as the most distant planetary object ever visited by a spacecraft from Earth!
New Horizons has been hurtling towards the unexplored outer limits of our Solar System since launching 13 years ago in Jan. 2006 and conducting the first up close flyby of Pluto – the ninth planet - in July 2015.
Now the missions second flyby at ‘Ultima Thule’ is almost upon us on New Years Eve.The name means “beyond the known world” and was chosen after an unofficial naming contest held earlier this year.
New Horizons will swoop past ‘Ultima Thule’ at 12:33 a.m. EST on New Year’s Day at a velocity of 32,000 mph (9 miles per second) at a distance of merely 2,200 miles. And no one knows what the surface looks like because of the immense distance from Earth.
That will all change if all goes well!
No data will be transmitted during the encounter. Four hours after closest approach the spacecraft will turn and begins transmitting back the first high priority images and data.
“Across the whole team, people are ready, they’re in the game, we can’t wait to go exploring,” Alan Stern, the New Horizons principal investigator, said at a briefing today, Dec 28. “It’s been three-and-a-half years [since the Pluto flyby], we’ve worked so hard, people are ready to see that payoff and see what we can learn about the birth of our solar system.”
“This flyby of Ultima is a one shot deal on New Years Eve and New Years Day. There has been nothing like this mission since the Pioneers and Voyagers. We have been preparing almost every day for the past 3 ½ years. It very busy because our team is only 10 % the size of the Voyager team.”
The first high resolution image could be unveiled at a press briefing on Jan. 2. Traveling at the speed of light across immense distances it takes more than six hours for signals to reach eagerly waiting scientists on Earth.
However, because of the nonsensical political impasse in Washington, D.C. known as the ‘Government Shutdown’ - all systems may not be go with NASA TV coverage. Only time will tell.
JHU APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY, MD / KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Three Days and Counting !!! All spacecraft systems are ‘GO’ for the New Year’s Eve Flyby of NASA New Horizons spacecraft past ‘Ultima Thule’ – for a once in a lifetime encounter with the small icy rock in the Kuiper Belt located some 1 Billion miles beyond Pluto and 4 Billion miles from the Sun. It counts as the most distant planetary object ever visited by a spacecraft from Earth!
New Horizons has been hurtling towards the unexplored outer limits of our Solar System since launching 13 years ago in Jan. 2006 and conducting the first up close flyby of Pluto – the ninth planet - in July 2015.
Now the missions second flyby at ‘Ultima Thule’ is almost upon us on New Years Eve.The name means “beyond the known world” and was chosen after an unofficial naming contest held earlier this year.
New Horizons will swoop past ‘Ultima Thule’ at 12:33 a.m. EST on New Year’s Day at a velocity of 32,000 mph (9 miles per second) at a distance of merely 2,200 miles. And no one knows what the surface looks like because of the immense distance from Earth.
That will all change if all goes well!
No data will be transmitted during the encounter. Four hours after closest approach the spacecraft will turn and begins transmitting back the first high priority images and data.
“Across the whole team, people are ready, they’re in the game, we can’t wait to go exploring,” Alan Stern, the New Horizons principal investigator, said at a briefing today, Dec 28. “It’s been three-and-a-half years [since the Pluto flyby], we’ve worked so hard, people are ready to see that payoff and see what we can learn about the birth of our solar system.”
“This flyby of Ultima is a one shot deal on New Years Eve and New Years Day. There has been nothing like this mission since the Pioneers and Voyagers. We have been preparing almost every day for the past 3 ½ years. It very busy because our team is only 10 % the size of the Voyager team.”
The first high resolution image could be unveiled at a press briefing on Jan. 2. Traveling at the speed of light across immense distances it takes more than six hours for signals to reach eagerly waiting scientists on Earth.
However, because of the nonsensical political impasse in Washington, D.C. known as the ‘Government Shutdown’ - all systems may not be go with NASA TV coverage. Only time will tell.
Nevertheless, you can watch all the unfolding action and
read all the updates on the alternate websites of NASA Live and NASA’s New
Horizons mission partner - the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU
APL) YouTube channel.
https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
Space UpClose will also be on hand and I will be reporting live from JHU APL.
Thus you will not miss out! – just read below:
From NASA:
On #NewYearsEve, @NASANewHorizons will perform the most distant planetary flyby ever as it zooms past an object nicknamed #UltimaThule. Make sure to follow our partner @JHUAPL for updates: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu
From JHU APL- in case NASA TV is not available:
Where to Watch:
A schedule of televised events is below; all times EST and subject to change according to mission timelines and activities. Keep checking back for updates and additions!
NASA TV and the NASA New Horizons social media channels are now online. The New Horizons mission will also provide coverage of live activities on this website and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/user/jhuapl
https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
Space UpClose will also be on hand and I will be reporting live from JHU APL.
Thus you will not miss out! – just read below:
From NASA:
On #NewYearsEve, @NASANewHorizons will perform the most distant planetary flyby ever as it zooms past an object nicknamed #UltimaThule. Make sure to follow our partner @JHUAPL for updates: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu
From JHU APL- in case NASA TV is not available:
Where to Watch:
A schedule of televised events is below; all times EST and subject to change according to mission timelines and activities. Keep checking back for updates and additions!
NASA TV and the NASA New Horizons social media channels are now online. The New Horizons mission will also provide coverage of live activities on this website and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/user/jhuapl
Watch this Facebook Live Chat on YouTube on Dec. 28, 2018
for the latest update:
Video Caption: The New Horizons team provides
the latest updates on the historic flyby of Ultima Thule, the farthest
exploration of any world, ever: Dec 28 2018.
New Horizons Team Members Principle Investigator Alan Stern - Southwest
Research Institute Mission Operations Manager Alice Bowman - Johns Hopkins
Applied Physics Lab Science Team Co-Investigator Kelsi Singer - Southwest
Research Institute Moderator Mike Buckley - Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab
Here is a short summary of how to watch the New Horizons
flyby events over the next few days. A detailed summary is at the bottom:
New Horizons #UltimaThule Flyby Events (All
Times Eastern). New Horizons live
events will air on NASA Television. For mission status updates follow @NASANewHorizons.
Monday, Dec. 31, 2 p.m.: New Horizons media briefing and spacecraft
final approach before flyby of Ultima Thule, a Kuiper belt object (KBO).
3 p.m.: Q&A with the New Horizons Team
8 p.m.: Panel Discussion: New Horizons Flyby of Ultima Thule
3 p.m.: Q&A with the New Horizons Team
8 p.m.: Panel Discussion: New Horizons Flyby of Ultima Thule
Tuesday, Jan. 1, 12:15 a.m.: New Horizons flyby of Ultima Thule, a Kuiper
belt object.
9:45 a.m.: New Horizons Signal Acquisition from Ultima Thule Flyby (All Channels)
11:30 a.m.: New Horizons Post-Flyby Press Conference
9:45 a.m.: New Horizons Signal Acquisition from Ultima Thule Flyby (All Channels)
11:30 a.m.: New Horizons Post-Flyby Press Conference
Thursday, Jan. 3, 2 p.m.: New Horizons press briefing on science
results from Ultima Thule.
Pluto, the largest known body in the Kuiper
Belt, was the first target explored by New Horizons during a fast flyby over three
years ago during July 2015.
‘Ultima Thule’ is the second Kuiper Belt object that will be
explored up close by New Horizons.
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NASA New Horizons spacecraft trajectory since launching from
Earth on Jan. 19, 2006 on ULA Atlas V rocket.
Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
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Global mosaic of Pluto created from raw images gathered
during July 2015 flyby by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JHU/JPL/SWRI/Marco
Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
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The New Horizons team has tapped ‘Ultima
Thule’ as the nickname for the spacecrafts next flyby target on New Year’s
Day 2019 – “symbolizing this ultimate exploration by
NASA” says Alan Stern, the missions team leader and chief scientist. It orbits
the sun more than 4 Billion miles (6.5 billion
kilometers) beyond
Earth.
The primitive
frozen world - officially known as 2014 MU69 – will
become the farthest object ever explored up close by a manmade emissary in
history when NASA’s New Horizons spaceship zooms past for a close encounter on Jan. 1, 2019 orbiting more than a billion miles beyond
Pluto, the most distant planet in our Solar System.
The
first ever up close examination of this distant object holds critical clues to
the formation of the outer solar system eons ago.
“With substantial public input, the team has
chosen “Ultima Thule” (pronounced ultima thoo-lee”) for the Kuiper Belt
object the New Horizons spacecraft will explore on Jan. 1, 2019,” NASA
announced.
‘Ultima Thule’ is located in the Kuiper Belt and represents
a pristine building block of the solar system. It
was ‘ultimately’ selected as the team after being imaged by NASA’s Hubble Space
Telescope for scrutiny by the science team.
Its exact nature is not known precisely because it is so
distant and tiny.
It could be a single body, a
binary pair, or perhaps a system of multiple objects with multiple moons.
“Thule was a mythical, far-northern island in
medieval literature and cartography. Ultima Thule means "beyond
Thule"– beyond the borders of the known world—symbolizing the exploration
of the distant Kuiper Belt and Kuiper Belt objects that New Horizons is
performing, something never before done.”
The mission team wanted a more inspiring name
for the Kuiper Belt target besides 2014 MU69 and held a naming contest.
“MU69 is humanity's next Ultima Thule,” said
Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from Southwest Research
Institute in Boulder, Colorado, in a statement.
“Our spacecraft is heading beyond the limits of
the known worlds, to what will be this mission’s next achievement. Since this
will be the farthest exploration of any object in space in history, I like to
call our flyby target Ultima, for short, symbolizing this ultimate exploration
by NASA and our team.”
A formal name will be chosen by NASA and the New Horizons
team and submitted to the infamous International Astronomical Union (IAU) after
the flyby is completed.
The shape and composition of ‘Ultima Thule’ is
unknown. It could be peanut shaped or binary. Its size is estimated at no more than 20 miles (30 kilometers) long, or, if a
binary, each about 9-12 miles (15-20 kilometers) in diameter.
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This image of Ultima Thule, or 2014 MU69, was
captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2014. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
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“Our flyby of MU69 on New
Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day 2019 will be an exciting sequel to the historic
exploration New Horizons performed at Pluto in 2015,” added Alan Stern, New
Horizons principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in
Boulder, Colorado. “Nothing even like MU69 has ever been explored before.”
Watch
for Ken’s on site reporting about the New Horizons flyby direct from the
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU APL) in Laurel, MD.
Watch for Ken’s continuing
onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman
and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science
and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter
@ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist,
journalist and photographer based in the KSC area.
………….
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
See below the detailed New Horizons Flyby Events schedule:
| Date | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
28
Friday
December, 2018
|
1:00-1:30 pm EST |
New Horizons: Beyond Pluto. Preview of the spacecraft and science operations during the Ultima Thule flyby.
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31
Monday
December, 2018
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2:00-3:00 pm EST |
Press briefing: Ultima Thule flyby science and operations preview
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| 3:00-4:00 pm EST |
Q&A: Ask the New Horizons Team
|
|
| 8:00-11:00 pm EST |
Panel discussion on exploration of small worlds (8-9 pm); Ultima Thule flyby countdown events; mission updates
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1
Tuesday
January, 2019
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12:15-12:45 am EST |
Live coverage of countdown to closest approach (12:33 am); real-time flyby simulations
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| 9:45 – 10:15 am EST |
Live coverage of New Horizons signal-acquisition from Ultima Thule flyby
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|
| 11:30 am– 12:30 pm EST |
Press briefing: Spacecraft status, latest images and data download schedule
|
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2
Wednesday
January, 2019
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2:00-3:00 pm EST |
Press briefing: Science results from Ultima Thule
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3
Thursday
January, 2019
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2:00-3:00 pm EST |
Press briefing: Science results from Ultima Thule
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