New Horizons Wakes Up on Pluto's Doorstep   
       
   Dec. 7, 2014: After a voyage of nearly nine years and three billion miles -the   
   farthest any space mission has ever traveled to reach its primary target -   
   NASA's New Horizons spacecraft came out of hibernation on Dec. 6th for its   
   long-awaited 2015 encounter with the Pluto system.   
       
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDIsbN-e1qU   
       
   New Horizons Mission Operations Manager Alice Bowman and operations team   
   member Karl Whittenburg watch the screens for data confirming that the New   
   Horizons spacecraft had transitioned from hibernation to active mode on Dec. 6.   
       
   http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/moc1_0.jpg   
       
   Operators at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in   
   Laurel, Md., confirmed at 9:53 p.m. (EST) that New Horizons, operating on   
   pre-programmed computer commands, had switched from hibernation to "active"   
   mode. Moving at light speed, the radio signal from New Horizons - currently   
   more than 2.9 billion miles from Earth, and just over 162 million miles from   
   Pluto - needed four hours and 26 minutes to reach NASA's Deep Space Network   
   station in Canberra, Australia.   
       
   "This is a watershed event that signals the end of New Horizons crossing of a   
   vast ocean of space to the very frontier of our solar system, and the   
   beginning of the mission's primary objective: the exploration of Pluto and its   
   many moons in 2015," said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from   
   Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colo.   
       
   Since launching on January 19, 2006, New Horizons has spent 1,873 days - about   
   two-thirds of its flight time - in hibernation. Its 18 separate hibernation   
   periods, from mid-2007 to late 2014, ranged from 36 days to 202 days in   
   length. The team used hibernation to save wear and tear on spacecraft   
   components and reduce the risk of system failures.   
       
   "Technically, this was routine, since the wake-up was a procedure that we'd   
   done many times before," said Glen Fountain, New Horizons project manager at   
   APL. "Symbolically, however, this is a big deal. It means the start of our   
   pre-encounter operations."   
       
   The wake-up sequence had been programmed into New Horizons' onboard computer   
   in August, and started aboard the spacecraft at 3 p.m. EST on Dec. 6. About 90   
   minutes later, New Horizons began transmitting word to Earth on its condition,   
   including the report that it is back in "active" mode.   
       
   The New Horizons team will spend the next several weeks checking out the   
   spacecraft, making sure its systems and science instruments are operating   
   properly. They'll also continue to build and test the computer-command   
   sequences that will guide New Horizons through its flight to and   
   reconnaissance of the Pluto system.   
       
   http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mp3/wakeup.htm   
       
   For New Horizons, Russell Watson Records Special Version of `Where My Heart   
   Will Take Me.' Listen to it hereWith a seven-instrument science payload that   
   includes advanced imaging infrared and ultraviolet spectrometers, a compact   
   multicolor camera, a high-resolution telescopic camera, two powerful particle   
   spectrometers and a space-dust detector, New Horizons will begin observing the   
   Pluto system on Jan. 15.   
       
   New Horizons' closest approach to Pluto will occur on July 14, but plenty of   
   highlights are expected before then, including, by mid-May, views of the Pluto   
   system better than what the Hubble Space Telescope can provide of the dwarf   
   planet and its moons.   
       
   A Musical Wake-Up   
       
   New Horizons joins the astronauts on four space shuttle missions who "woke up"   
   to English tenor Russell Watson's inspirational "Where My Heart Will Take Me"   
   - in fact, Watson himself recorded a special greeting and version of the song   
   to honor New Horizons! The song was played in New Horizons mission operations   
   upon confirmation of the spacecraft's wake-up on Dec. 6.   
       
   The Sleeping Spacecraft: How Hibernation Worked   
       
   During hibernation mode, much of the New Horizons spacecraft was unpowered.   
   The onboard flight computer monitored system health and broadcast a weekly   
   beacon-status tone back to Earth. Onboard sequences sent in advance by mission   
   controllers woke New Horizons two or three times each year to check out   
   critical systems, calibrate instruments, gather some science data, rehearse   
   Pluto-encounter activities, and perform course corrections.   
       
   New Horizons pioneered routine cruise-flight hibernation for NASA. Not only   
   has hibernation reduced wear and tear on the spacecraft's electronics, it also   
   lowered operations costs and freed up NASA Deep Space Network tracking and   
   communication resources for other missions.   
       
   Credits:   
   Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA   
       
   More:   
       
   The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory manages the New Horizons mission   
   for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research   
   Institute (SwRI) is the principal investigator and leads the mission; SwRI   
   leads the science team, payload operations, and encounter science planning.   
   New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall   
   Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. APL designed, built and operates   
   the New Horizons spacecraft.   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- D'Bridge 3.99   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LoUiSiAna (1:3828/7)