New Horizons NASA's Mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is on track to perform the farthest flyby in history, when it zips past a Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule – more than four billion miles from Earth – at 12:33 a.m. EST on Jan. 1.
Flyby activities are taking place at the home of New Horizons operations, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. A schedule of events, set for broadcast and streaming on NASA TV and social media channels, is below.
Media wishing to participate in press briefings remotely can contact Paulette Campbell at 240-228-6792, paulette.campbell@jhuapl.edu, for dial-in access.
Times are EST and subject to change according to mission timelines and activities. Check https://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Where-to-Watch.php for updates and additions.
Press briefing: Ultima Thule flyby science and operations preview. Panelists include Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator, Southwest Research Institute; Helene Winters, New Horizons project manager, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory; John Spencer, New Horizons deputy project scientist, Southwest Research Institute; Frederic Pelletier, navigation team lead, KinetX, Inc.
Q&A: Ask the New Horizons Team. Questions from social media (#askNewHorizons) answered by Alex Parker, New Horizons co-investigator, Southwest Research Institute; Kelsi Singer, co-investigator, Southwest Research Institute; Gabe Rogers, New Horizons deputy mission systems engineer, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Panel discussion on exploration of small worlds (8-9 pm); mission and science updates; Ultima Thule flyby countdown events
Global song release: Brian May, New Horizons contributing scientist and Queen guitarist, "New Horizons (Ultima Thule Mix)"
Live coverage of countdown to closest approach (12:33 am); real-time flyby simulations
Live coverage of New Horizons signal-acquisition activities in the Mission Operations Center, confirming spacecraft status and flyby success
Press briefing: Spacecraft status, latest images and data download schedule. Panelists include Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator, Southwest Research Institute; Alice Bowman, New Horizons mission operations manager, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory; Hal Weaver, New Horizons project scientist, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory; Chris Hersman, New Horizons mission systems engineer, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
Press briefing: Science results from Ultima Thule. Panelists include Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator, Southwest Research Institute; Jeff Moore, New Horizons co-investigator, NASA Ames Research Center; Cathy Olkin, New Horizons deputy project scientist, Southwest Research Institute; Will Grundy, New Horizons co-investigator, Lowell Observatory.
Press briefing: Science results from Ultima Thule. Panelists TBD.
Follow the New Horizons mission on social media and use the hashtags #ultimathule, #ultimaflyby and #askNewHorizons to join the conversation. Live updates will be available on NASA and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory websites and social media channels. For a complete list of programming and outlets, visit: https://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Where-to-Watch.php
For more information on the New Horizons mission, visit: https://pluto.jhuapl.edu and www.nasa.gov
Michael Buckley
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
240-228-7536
michael.buckley@jhuapl.edu
Maria Stothoff
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio
210-522-3305
maria.stothoff@swri.org