Download Kuiper Mission Team Presentation

KBO Discovery Mission
Michael Crawford
Ben Klein
Laura Weber
What is the Kuiper Belt?
•
Disc-shaped region of icy bodies Has 3
dwarf planets (Pluto)
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Includes comets beyond orbit of Neptune
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Similar to asteroid belt, but far larger
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Consists of mainly small bodies, possible
remnants from Solar System formation
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KBO = Kuiper Belt Objects
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Composed largely of frozen volatiles
(methane, ammonia, water)
What is the KBO Discovery Mission?
• What has preceded it? New Horizons!
• Planetary Telescope
• Connections between weather and climate in giant planet atmospheres,
satellites, and their external environments
• Flexible launch dates; primary mission completed by mid-2024
Decadal Science Questions to Answer
1. Smooth Migration vs. Catastrophic Scattering?
2. Kuiper belt - Jupiter Trojan connection?
3. Pair-wise accretion vs. gravitational collapse?
Decadal Science Questions to Answer
1. Smooth Migration vs. Catastrophic Scattering?
2. Kuiper belt - Jupiter Trojan connection?
3. Pair-wise accretion vs. gravitational collapse?
3 Science Objectives
1. Migration of the Giant Planets
2. Cause of Eruptions from Active Moons
3. Engine of Giant Planet Atmospheres & Space Weather
Simple Mission Design
• No new technologies
• Two high-heritage science instruments:
Telescope Characteristics
MISSION 1: Small Bodies
• Survey of Trojans, Centaurs, and KBOs
• Thousands of known (and maybe some unknown) outer solar system
objects
• Infrared, visible color, and detection of frozen water
MISSION 1: Small Bodies
• Smooth Migration vs Dynamic Instability
•
Smooth - Jupiter Trojans originated
near Jupiter or closer to the sun
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Dynamic- Trojans originated from
Kuiper Belt region
MISSION 1: Small Bodies
• Slow Pair-wise Accretion vs Gravitational collapse
•
Accretion- tiny particles collide and stick together
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Collapse - mass accumulates through gravitational pull
MISSION 2: Satellite Systems of the Giant Planets
• Kuiper succeeds in understanding planetary satellites
•
Decadal Approach
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Consequences of inaccurate data due to changing UV emissions
MISSION 2: Satellite Systems of the Giant Planets
• Endogenic and Exogenic Processes affecting moons
•
Are plumes brightness affected by Jupiter tidal effect, magnetosphere, or
internal conditions like Earth’s volcanoes?
MISSION 2: Satellite Systems of the Giant Planets
• Io-Jupiter System
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Abundance of plume and
volcanic activity on Io
•
Sputtering effect caused by
magnetospheric variability
MISSION 3: Giant Planets Atmospheres &
Magnetospheres
• KUIPER will observer ice giants over different timescales
• Focus on wind tracers, auroras, vortices, solar wind effects, and zonal jets
MISSION 3: Giant Planets Atmospheres &
Magnetospheres
• Giant Planet Atmosphere Dynamics
• Test the hypothesis that jets and
eddies maintain a closed loop (over
hours to years)
• Characterize and study the rates and
effects of small impacts
• Test whether convective events
replenish energy into these eddie-jet
systems
MISSION 3: Giant Planets Atmospheres &
Magnetospheres
• Determine the physics of
magnetospheric and auroral processes
of giant planets
• Observe the effects of the solar wind vs
internal processes in controlling the
magnetospheres
• Understand how giant planet
magnetospheres vary to extrapolate to
exoplanet systems
Why Kuiper?
• Kuiper acquires observations with cadences and sensitivities that current
ground-based and space-based assets have not and cannot be allocated
to do
• Decadal science goals cannot be obtained with current resources
• Kuipers mission is complete in 3 years
Why Kuiper?
• Time built into the mission for guest astronomers and targets of opportunity
• Kuiper’s spatial resolution, spectral resolutions, far-UV to near-IR coverage,
and substantial time-domain
sampling will offer an efficient,
affordable, and highly relevant
facility
• Data can be used to inform for
other missions
Why is this so important?
"...a highly capable planetary space telescope in Earth orbit
could be accomplished as a Discovery mission. Such a facility
could support all solar system scientific research, not just
that involving giant planets."
‐ 2011 Planetary Decadal Survey, p. 20
Thank you for your time!! -- questions?