scientist are reflect over which of two frigid body NASA ’s New Horizons spacecraft should natter following its Pluto confrontation this summertime — provide the U.S. space agency comes up with funding for an extended commission .
range of a function credit rating : NASA
The New Horizons squad end up receive to turn to the Hubble Space Telescope to rule Kuiper belt object that would be suitably positioned for New Horizons to reach .
The newly named target are 2014 MT69 , a 37 - sea mile ( 60 - kilometer ) wide physical structure circling some 44.3 prison term further away from the sunshine than Earth . An encounter with MT69 would occur around New Year ’s Day 2019 .
“ It ’s not a terribly bright mark and it ’s not very big … and it ’s quite perhaps smaller , if it ’s a binary or if other things are going on , ” said astronomer and New Horizons squad penis Simon Porter , with the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder , Colo.
The reward of MT69 is that New Horizons can reach it using less fuel . The encounter also would hap three months rather than a flyby of the other candidate , known as 2014 MT70 .
MT70 is undimmed than MT60 , and perhaps large , with a diameter of about 47 miles ( 76 km ) , so more worthy from a scientific view , Porter said .
“ We can only go to one of these , so we have to make the determination . MT69 is the front - Caranx crysos because it ’s downhearted Delta - v ( variety in speed ) . Engineers love that . On the other bridge player , they kind of hate that it ’s dimmer because on access we might end up using more fuel for final ( course ) corrections , ” he say .
That encounter also may be cramp by the position of the sun at the fourth dimension . “ We have to make this trade - off between sizing versus Delta - v , ” Porter said .
An lengthened mission also would let in distant observations of as many Kuiper belt object as possible . “ We go through a lot of stuff very chop-chop , ” Porter say .
New Horizons is now closer to Pluto than Earth is to the Dominicus . The space vehicle , which was launched in January 2006 , will pass about 10,000 kilometers ( 6,200 miles ) from Pluto on July 14 .
To make a stuffy pass by another Kuiper bash object , New Horizons will have to make a steerage evasive action this yr , most probable in October .
A decision on which post - Pluto target to aim for is expected in August , a report present at the conference show .
This article byIrene Klotzoriginally appear onDiscovery News ; it has been republish with license .
NASANew HorizonsPlutoSpace
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