NASA has funded Southwest Research Institute to study the important attributes, feasibility and cost of a possible future Pluto orbiter mission. This study will develop the spacecraft and payload design requirements and make preliminary cost and risk assessments for new technologies.

The study is one of 10 different mission studies that NASA is sponsoring to prepare for the next Planetary Science Decadal Survey. The results of these studies will be delivered to the National Academy Planetary Decadal Study that will begin in 2020.

The SwRI-led New Horizons mission - which flew past Pluto and its system of moons and then Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) 2014 MU69, the farthest, most primordial object visited to date - has returned data that has made a compelling case for a follow-up mission.

"We're excited to have this opportunity to inform the decadal survey deliberations with this study," said SwRI's Dr. Carly Howett, who is leading the effort. "Our mission concept is to send a single spacecraft to orbit Pluto for two Earth years before breaking away to visit at least one KBO and one other KBO dwarf planet."

Despite all that New Horizons revealed about the Pluto system and KBOs, it could only begin to explore complex Pluto and its five moons. Additionally, the New Horizons spacecraft carried only a limited payload and many aspects of KBO and dwarf planet science require different kinds instrumentation and the kind of global and temporal coverage that only an orbiter can provide. A Pluto orbiter mission will be designed to answer some of the questions New Horizons discoveries have sparked.

"In an SwRI-funded study that preceded this new NASA-funded study, we developed a Pluto system orbital tour, showing the mission was possible with planned capability launch vehicles and existing electric propulsion systems," said SwRI's Dr. Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission as well as the SwRI-funded study.

"We also showed it is possible to use gravity assists from Pluto's largest moon, Charon, to escape Pluto orbit and to go back into the Kuiper Belt for the exploration of more KBOs like MU69 and at least once more dwarf planet for comparison to Pluto."

Related Links
Southwest Research Institute
The million outer planets of a star called Sol

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Study Shows How Icy Outer Solar System Satellites May Have Formed
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jun 27, 2019
Using sophisticated computer simulations and observations, a team led by researchers from the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Tokyo Institute of Technology has shown how the so-called trans-Neptunian objects (or TNOs) may have formed. TNOs, which include the dwarf planet Pluto, are a group of icy and rocky small bodies - smaller than planets but larger than comets - that orbit the solar system beyond the planet Neptune. TNOs likely formed at the same time as the solar system, and understanding th ... read more