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THE EXPLORATION OF THE PLUTO SYSTEM AND THE KUIPER BELT OBJECT (KBO) 2014 MU69 BY NEW HORIZONS HAS PROVEN THE SCIENTIFIC WORTH OF KBO TARGETS AND MADE A COMPELLING CASE FOR FOLLOW-UP MISSIONS. THE MISSION CONCEPT PROPOSED HERE IS TO SEND A SINGLE SMALL FLAGSHIPCLASS SPACECRAFT TO ORBIT IN THE PLUTO SYSTEM FOR APPROXIMATELY TWO TERRESTRIAL YEARS THEN BREAK ORBIT AND EXPLORE AT LEAST ONE SMALL KBO AND ONE OTHER KBO DWARF PLANET. FEASIBILITY STUDIES CONDUCTED AT SWRI HAVE SHOWN THIS MISSION TO BE POSSIBLE WITH PLANNED CAPABILITY LAUNCH VEHICLES AND EXISTING ELECTRIC PROPULSION SYSTEMS BUT HAS NOT ADDRESSED SCIENCE FOCUS INSTRUMENT TRADES COSTING AND OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES. THE MISSION WILL CARRY A MORE CAPABLE REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENT SUITE THAN THAT OF NEW HORIZONS ALLOWING NEW INVESTIGATIONS OF PLUTO ALL ITS MOONS AND THE KUIPER BELT. THE PROPOSED MISSION CONCEPT WILL ADDRESS THREE KEY QUESTIONS: IS PLUTO AN OCEAN WORLD? WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE PLUTO SYSTEM? WHAT IS THE DIVERSITY OF OBJECTS IN THE KUIPER BELT? TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS THE PROPOSED MISSION WILL EXPLORE BOTH NEW OBJECTS AND PLUTO SYSTEM TERRAINS THAT NEW HORIZONS DID NOT OBSERVE. AN ORBITER ALSO ALLOWS TIME DOMAIN STUDIES AND ALLOWS PLUTO S GLOBAL GRAVITY TO BE ASSESSED IN ORDER TO DEFINITIVELY DETERMINE WHETHER PLUTO HAS A SUBSURFACE LIQUID WATER OCEAN. IN THE PLUTO SYSTEM THE MISSION WILL PROVIDE NEW TYPES OF ATMOSPHERIC INVESTIGATIONS INCLUDING IN SITU STUDIES OF PLUTO S ATMOSPHERE. COMPARING THESE NEW RESULTS WITH THOSE OBTAINED BY NEW HORIZONS WILL ENABLE AN IN-DEPTH UNDERSTANDING OF PLUTO S TEMPORAL CHANGES DUE TO ACTIVE GEOLOGY AND THE INTERACTION OF THE SURFACE AND ATMOSPHERE. WE HAVE IDENTIFIED MULTIPLE ADDITIONAL KBO TARGETS AFTER PLUTO INCLUDING THE OPTION FOR MULTIPLE SMALL-TARGET FLYBYS AND THE ABILITY TO ORBIT OR FLY BY AT LEAST ONE OTHER KBO DWARF PLANET DEPENDING ON WHICH TARGET IS CHOSEN ALL WITHIN EXISTING ELECTRIC PROPULSION CAPABILITIES. THERE ARE MANY ASPECTS OF THIS MISSION STILL TO BE DEVELOPED WE OUTLINE THE SPECIFIC WORK STILL TO BE DONE WHICH INCLUDES THE NUMEROUS TRADES NEEDED TO ENSURE THIS MISSION HAS THE HIGHEST AND MOST COST EFFECTIVE SCIENCE RETURN. WE REQUIRE INPUTS FROM NASA S DESIGN LAB TO COMPLETE OUR WORK TO ASSIST WITH ISSUES SUCH AS (BUT NOT RESTRICTED TO) FULL MISSION COSTING PAYLOAD INTEGRATION COMMUNICATIONS AND TRAJECTORY ANALYSIS. THIS MISSION CONCEPT IS FULLY IN LINE WITH THE PRIORITIES OF BOTH THE COMMITTEE ON ASTROBIOLOGY AND PLANETARY SCIENCES (CAPS) THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES DECADAL SURVEY AND NASA S ROADMAP TO OCEAN WORLDS (ROW): CAPS LISTS A DWARF PLANET MISSION TO PLUTO AS A PRIORITY AREA FOR LARGE- AND MEDIUM-CLASS MISSION STUDIES THE MID-TERM REVIEW OF THE PLANETARY DECADAL SURVEY VISION AND VOYAGES LISTS A KUIPER BELT MISSION TO BE IMPORTANT SPECIFICALLY ONE THAT VISITS A LARGE AND SMALL KBO AND THE ROADMAP TO OCEAN WORLDS (ROW) RECOMMENDS THAT MISSION STUDIES SHOULD BE PERFORMED TO ADDRESS TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES ENHANCING EXPLORATION OF THE KUIPER BELT OR A RETURN TO PLUTO WITH AN ORBITER.

$121,810FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio TX

Investigators

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