Pluto Fast Flyby: An Overview of the Mission and Spacecraft Design, Advanced Technology Insertion Efforts, and Student Involvement Opportunities

In an effort to complete the initial reconnaissance of our solar system, the Jet Propulsion I.aboratory (JPI.) is designing a mission to send two very small spacecraft to explore Pluto and its moon, Charon. The two probes will each carry four science instruments designed to obtain information on both hemispheres of Pluto and Charon in the form of visual images, infrared and ultraviolet data, and radio science. Using this data, scientists will be able to characterize Pluto and Charon’s global geology and gcomorphology, perform surface composition mapping, and define the structure and composition of Pluto’s neutral atmosphere -feats not possible with the Hubble Space Telescope (even with the latest repairs). This paper provides a brief overview of the mission and spacecraft design, advanced technology insertion efforts, and student involvement needed to make these feats a reality. The costdrivcn mission and spacecraft design focus on delivering two 120 kg spacecraft to the Pluto-Charon system for a development cost of under FY92$400 million. Time is also of the essence because Pluto’s atmosphere is expected to condense and freeze out sometime after 2010 as Pluto moves toward the farthest reaches of its orbit. For this reason, a direct trajectory has been baselined that should enable arrival at Pluto in only 7 to 9 years from launch. A variety of advanced technology insertion efforts have been undertaken to reduce spacecraft mass and power requirements so as to facilitate the above cost and schedule goals. Results are reported for candidate scientific payload instruments, a composite structure, advanced antenna, significantly smaller electronics packaging, high efficiency thermal-to-electric converters, and other candidate areas. Students from more than 10 universities have played a key role in some of these. advanced technology insertion efforts as well as in flight hardware mockup and prototyping activities. Plans to make spacecraft flight engintxx-ing data and compressed science dala accessible by schools across the country render prospects for student participation in these areas bright as well. 1 Manager, Pluto Preproject