13 research outputs found
The Use of Hibernation Modes for Deep Space Missions as a Method to Lower Mission Operations Costs
Hibernation modes have been used in the past in the commercial and military sector under the name of âon-orbit storageâ or âonorbit spareâ. Satellites that have used this technique include: METEOSAT-5 (Europe). SOOS (Navy), NOVA (Navy), GOES-10 (NOAA). These spares are used to quickly restore functionality of the system if there should be an on-orbit failure. Up until now, scientific satellites have not incorporated hibernation modes in their baseline mission timeline â though several missions used them to perform extended missions: GIOTTO and ISEE- 3/ICE. During its competitive proposal phase, CONTOUR baselined a hibernation mode as a method to reduce mission operations costs and to reduce the burden on DSN resources. CONTOURâs hibernation mode reduces the spacecraftâs required functionality to a minimum in a power stable, thermally stable, spin stabilized attitude. The European Space Agency (ESA) Rosetta mission is also implementing a hibernation mode in its baseline mission. This paper is intended to educate the reader on the different facets of CONTOURâs hibernation mode and issues that were taken into account during design
A statistical review of light curves and the prevalence of contact binaries in the Kuiper Belt
We investigate what can be learned about a population of distant Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) by studying the statistical properties of their light curves. Whereas others have successfully inferred the properties of individual, highly variable KBOs, we show that the fraction of KBOs with low amplitudes also provides fundamental information about a population. Each light curve is primarily the result of two factors: shape and orientation. We consider contact binaries and ellipsoidal shapes, with and without flattening. After developing the mathematical framework, we apply it to the existing body of KBO light curve data. Principal conclusions are as follows. (1) When using absolute magnitude H as a proxy for the sizes of KBOs, it is more accurate to use the maximum of the light curve (minimum H) rather than the mean. (2) Previous investigators have noted that smaller KBOs tend to have higher-amplitude light curves, and have interpreted this as evidence that they are systematically more irregular in shape than larger KBOs; we show that a population of flattened bodies with uniform proportions, independent of size, could also explain this result. (3) Our method of analysis indicates that prior assessments of the fraction of contact binaries in the Kuiper Belt may be artificially low. (4) The pole orientations of some KBOs can be inferred from observed changes in their light curves over time scales of decades; however, we show that these KBOs constitute a biased sample, whose pole orientations are not representative of the population overall. (5) Although surface topography, albedo patterns, limb darkening, and other surface properties can affect individual light curves, they do not have a strong influence on the statistics overall. (6) Photometry from the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS) survey is incompatible with previous results and its statistical properties defy easy interpretation. We also discuss the promise of this approach for the analysis of future, much larger data sets such as the one anticipated from the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory
A statistical review of light curves and the prevalence of contact binaries in the Kuiper Belt
We investigate what can be learned about a population of distant Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) by studying the statistical properties of their light curves. Whereas others have successfully inferred the properties of individual, highly variable KBOs, we show that the fraction of KBOs with low amplitudes also provides fundamental information about a population. Each light curve is primarily the result of two factors: shape and orientation. We consider contact binaries and ellipsoidal shapes, with and without flattening. After developing the mathematical framework, we apply it to the existing body of KBO light curve data. Principal conclusions are as follows. (1) When using absolute magnitude H as a proxy for the sizes of KBOs, it is more accurate to use the maximum of the light curve (minimum H) rather than the mean. (2) Previous investigators have noted that smaller KBOs tend to have higher-amplitude light curves, and have interpreted this as evidence that they are systematically more irregular in shape than larger KBOs; we show that a population of flattened bodies with uniform proportions, independent of size, could also explain this result. (3) Our method of analysis indicates that prior assessments of the fraction of contact binaries in the Kuiper Belt may be artificially low. (4) The pole orientations of some KBOs can be inferred from observed changes in their light curves over time scales of decades; however, we show that these KBOs constitute a biased sample, whose pole orientations are not representative of the population overall. (5) Although surface topography, albedo patterns, limb darkening, and other surface properties can affect individual light curves, they do not have a strong influence on the statistics overall. (6) Photometry from the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS) survey is incompatible with previous results and its statistical properties defy easy interpretation. We also discuss the promise of this approach for the analysis of future, much larger data sets such as the one anticipated from the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory
The New Horizons Spacecraft
The New Horizons spacecraft was launched on 19 January 2006. The spacecraft
was designed to provide a platform for seven instruments that will collect and
return data from Pluto in 2015. The design drew on heritage from previous
missions developed at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
(APL) and other missions such as Ulysses. The trajectory design imposed
constraints on mass and structural strength to meet the high launch
acceleration needed to reach the Pluto system prior to the year 2020. The
spacecraft subsystems were designed to meet tight mass and power allocations,
yet provide the necessary control and data handling finesse to support data
collection and return when the one-way light time during the Pluto flyby is 4.5
hours. Missions to the outer solar system require a radioisotope thermoelectric
generator (RTG) to supply electrical power, and a single RTG is used by New
Horizons. To accommodate this constraint, the spacecraft electronics were
designed to operate on less than 200 W. The spacecraft system architecture
provides sufficient redundancy to provide a probability of mission success of
greater than 0.85, even with a mission duration of over 10 years. The
spacecraft is now on its way to Pluto, with an arrival date of 14 July 2015.
Initial inflight tests have verified that the spacecraft will meet the design
requirements.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figures, 4 tables; To appear in a special volume of
Space Science Reviews on the New Horizons missio
Genomic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 during early introduction into the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.
The early COVID-19 pandemic was characterized by rapid global spread. In Maryland and Washington, DC, United States, more than 2500 cases were reported within 3 weeks of the first COVID-19 detection in March 2020. We aimed to use genomic sequencing to understand the initial spread of SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes COVID-19 - in the region. We analyzed 620 samples collected from the Johns Hopkins Health System during March 11-31, 2020, comprising 28.6% of the total cases in Maryland and Washington, DC. From these samples, we generated 114 complete viral genomes. Analysis of these genomes alongside a subsampling of over 1000 previously published sequences showed that the diversity in this region rivaled global SARS-CoV-2 genetic diversity at that time and that the sequences belong to all of the major globally circulating lineages, suggesting multiple introductions into the region. We also analyzed these regional SARS-CoV-2 genomes alongside detailed clinical metadata and found that clinically severe cases had viral genomes belonging to all major viral lineages. We conclude that efforts to control local spread of the virus were likely confounded by the number of introductions into the region early in the epidemic and the interconnectedness of the region as a whole
Initial results from the New Horizons exploration of 2014 MU69, a small Kuiper Belt object
After flying past Pluto in 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft shifted course to encounter (486958) 2014 MU69, a much smaller body about 30 kilometers in diameter. MU69 is part of the Kuiper Belt, a collection of small icy bodies orbiting in the outer Solar System. Stern et al. present the initial results from the New Horizons flyby of MU69 on 1 January 2019. MU69 consists of two lobes that appear to have merged at low speed, producing a contact binary. This type of Kuiper Belt object is mostly undisturbed since the formation of the Solar System and so will preserve clues about that process.Science, this issue p. eaaw9771INTRODUCTIONThe Kuiper Belt is a broad, torus-shaped region in the outer Solar System beyond Neptuneâs orbit. It contains primordial planetary building blocks and dwarf planets. NASAâs New Horizons spacecraft conducted a flyby of Pluto and its system of moons on 14 July 2015. New Horizons then continued farther into the Kuiper Belt, adjusting its trajectory to fly close to the small Kuiper Belt object (486958) 2014 MU69 (henceforth MU69; also informally known as Ultima Thule). Stellar occultation observations in 2017 showed that MU69 was ~25 to 35 km in diameter, and therefore smaller than the diameter of Pluto (2375 km) by a factor of ~100 and less massive than Pluto by a factor of ~106. MU69 is located about 1.6 billion kilometers farther from the Sun than Pluto was at the time of the New Horizons flyby. MU69âs orbit indicates that it is a âcold classicalâ Kuiper Belt object, thought to be the least dynamically evolved population in the Solar System. A major goal of flying past this target is to investigate accretion processes in the outer Solar System and how those processes led to the formation of the planets. Because no small Kuiper Belt object had previously been explored by spacecraft, we also sought to provide a close-up look at such a bodyâs geology and composition, and to search for satellites, rings, and evidence of present or past atmosphere. We report initial scientific results and interpretations from that flyby.RATIONALEThe New Horizons spacecraft completed its MU69 flyby on 1 January 2019, with a closest approach distance of 3538 kmâless than one-third of its closest distance to Pluto. During the high-speed flyby, made at 14.4 km s-1, the spacecraft collected ~50 gigabits of high-resolution imaging, compositional spectroscopy, temperature measurements, and other data on this Kuiper Belt object. We analyzed the initial returned flyby data from the seven scientific instruments carried on the spacecraft: the Ralph multicolor/panchromatic camera and mapping infrared composition spectrometer; the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) longâfocal length panchromatic visible imager; the Alice extreme/far ultraviolet mapping spectrograph; the Radio Experiment (REX); the Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) solar wind detector; the Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) high-energy charged particle spectrometer; and the Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter (VBSDC), a dust impact detector.RESULTSImaging of MU69 showed it to be a bilobed, contact binary. MU69âs two lobes appear to have formed close to one another, becoming an orbiting pair that subsequently underwent coupled tidal and orbital evolution to merge into the contact binary we observe today. The object rotates on its axis every 15.92 hours; its rotation pole is inclined approximately 98° to the plane of its heliocentric orbit. Its entire surface has a low visible-wavelength reflectivity (albedo) but displays brighter and darker regions across its surface, ranging from 5 to 12% reflectivity. The brightest observed regions are the âneckâ of MU69, where the two lobes are joined, and two discrete bright spots inside the largest crater-like feature on the objectâs surface. Although MU69âs albedo varies substantially across its surface, it is uniformly red in color, with only minor observed color variations. This coloration likely represents a refractory residue from ices and organic molecules processed by ultraviolet light and cosmic rays. Spectra of the surface revealed tentative absorption band detections due to water ice and methanol. The geology of MU69 consists of numerous distinct units but shows only a small number of craters, providing evidence that there is a deficit of Kuiper Belt objects smaller than ~1 km in diameter, and that there is a comparatively low collision rate in its Kuiper Belt environment compared to what would be expected in a collisional equilibrium population. A three-dimensional shape model derived from the images shows MU69 is not simply elongated but also flattened. The larger lobe was found to be lenticular, with dimensions of approximately 22 Ă 20 Ă 7 km (uncertainty <0.6 Ă 1 Ă 2 km), whereas the smaller lobe is less lenticular, with dimensions of approximately 14 Ă 14 Ă 10 km (uncertainty <0.4 Ă 0.7 Ă 3 km). No evidence of satellites, rings, or an extant atmosphere was found around MU69.CONCLUSIONBoth MU69âs binarity and unusual shape may be common among similarly sized Kuiper Belt objects. The observation that its two lobes are discrete, have retained their basic shapes, and do not display prominent deformation or other geological features indicative of an energetic or disruptive collision indicates that MU69 is the product of a gentle merger of two independently formed bodies.Image of MU69 from New Horizons LORRI observations taken 1 January 2019.The Kuiper Belt is a distant region of the outer Solar System. On 1 January 2019, the New Horizons spacecraft flew close to (486958) 2014 MU69, a cold classical Kuiper Belt object approximately 30 kilometers in diameter. Such objects have never been substantially heated by the Sun and are therefore well preserved since their formation. We describe initial results from these encounter observations. MU69 is a bilobed contact binary with a flattened shape, discrete geological units, and noticeable albedo heterogeneity. However, there is little surface color or compositional heterogeneity. No evidence for satellites, rings or other dust structures, a gas coma, or solar wind interactions was detected. MU69âs origin appears consistent with pebble cloud collapse followed by a low-velocity merger of its two lobes
The Pluto system: Initial results from its exploration by New Horizons
The Pluto system was recently explored by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft,
making closest approach on 14 July 2015. Pluto's surface displays diverse
landforms, terrain ages, albedos, colors, and composition gradients. Evidence
is found for a water-ice crust, geologically young surface units, surface ice
convection, wind streaks, volatile transport, and glacial flow. Pluto's
atmosphere is highly extended, with trace hydrocarbons, a global haze layer,
and a surface pressure near 10 microbars. Pluto's diverse surface geology and
long-term activity raise fundamental questions about how small planets remain
active many billions of years after formation. Pluto's large moon Charon
displays tectonics and evidence for a heterogeneous crustal composition, its
north pole displays puzzling dark terrain. Small satellites Hydra and Nix have
higher albedos than expected.Comment: 8 pages - Initial Science paper from NASA's New Horizons Pluto
Encounte
The Pluto system: Initial results from its exploration by New Horizons
The Pluto system was recently explored by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, making closest approach on 14 July 2015. Pluto's surface displays diverse landforms, terrain ages, albedos, colors, and composition gradients. Evidence is found for a water-ice crust, geologically young surface units, surface ice convection, wind streaks, volatile transport, and glacial flow. Pluto's atmosphere is highly extended, with trace hydrocarbons, a global haze layer, and a surface pressure near 10 microbars. Pluto's diverse surface geology and long-term activity raise fundamental questions about how small planets remain active many billions of years after formation. Pluto's large moon Charon displays tectonics and evidence for a heterogeneous crustal composition; its north pole displays puzzling dark terrain. Small satellites Hydra and Nix have higher albedos than expected