{New Horizons

Emily LindenBear Elder

Leaving Earth faster than any other spacecraft to date

First spacecraft to be launched directly into a solar escape trajectory

Launched on January 19, 2006. It flew by Jupiter on February 28, 2007 at 5:43:40 (to the exact time)

Background

Uses a plutonium-powered radioisotope thermoelectric generator

Rex SDC LORRI (Long Range Reconnaissance

Imager) 478 kilograms (1,054 pounds) at launch 0.7 m (27 inches) tall, 2.1 m (83 inches)

long and 2.7 m (108 inches) at its widest.

Details of Spacecraft

Results

Pluto is depicted by the white arrow. The distance is 4.2 billion kilometers (2.6 billion miles) from the spacecraft.

Huge cyclonic storms, the Great Red Spot and the Little Red Spot, and wispy cloud patterns.

Results

To the left is Io, the volcanic moon; and on Jupiter is the shadow of Ganymede as it passes over Jupiter.

New Horizon took a picture of Io when its volcanoe Tvashtar erupted.

http://www.aerospaceguide.net/spacecraft/newhorizons.html

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=PKB&Display=ReadMore

Work Cited

{Cassini

Bear ElderEmily Linden

Spacecraft Details

The orbiter is about the same size as a 30 passenger school bus. It weighs roughly 5,650 kg (6 tons)

Cassini's instrumentation consists of: a radar mapper, a CCD imaging system, a visible/infrared mapping spectrometer, a composite infrared spectrometer, a cosmic dust analyzer, a radio and plasma wave experiment, a plasma spectrometer, an ultraviolet imaging spectrograph, a magnetometer, an ion/neutral mass spectrometer

Objectives

Cassini’s objectives were flyby of Jupiter, examine the great red spot more extensively, and some missions regarding Saturn.

Results

Scientists used the Cassini spacecraft to reveal Jupiter's magnetosphere, a vast, invisible whirling bubble of charged particles surrounding the planet. The data revealed how Jupiter interacts with particles from our Sun. The results helped scientists understand Earth's own magnetosphere, which shields us from harmful solar radiation.

Cassini also revealed Jupiter's radiation belts to be much harsher than expected -- information that will help engineers protect future robotic spacecraft -- and spotted new details in Jupiter's auroras.