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NASA has selected the potential next destination for the New Horizons mission to visit after its historic July 14 flyby of the Pluto system.
The destination is a small Kuiper Belt object (KBO) known as 2014 MU69 that orbits nearly a billion miles beyond Pluto.
This remote KBO was one of two identified as potential destinations and the one recommended to NASA by the New Horizons team.
Although NASA has selected 2014 MU69 as the target, as part of its normal review process the agency will conduct a detailed assessment before officially approving the mission extension to conduct additional science.
“Even as the New Horizon’s spacecraft speeds away from Pluto out into the Kuiper Belt, and the data from the exciting encounter with this new world is being streamed back to Earth, we are looking outward to the next destination for this intrepid explorer,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and chief of the NASA Science Mission Directorate at the agency headquarters in Washington. “While discussions whether to approve this extended mission will take place in the larger context of the planetary science portfolio, we expect it to be much less expensive than the prime mission while still providing new and exciting science.”
Like all NASA missions that have finished their main objective but seek to do more exploration, the New Horizons team must write a proposal to the agency to fund a KBO mission.
That proposal – due in 2016 – will be evaluated by an independent team of experts before NASA can decide about the go-ahead.
Early target selection was important; the team needs to direct New Horizons toward the object this year in order to perform any extended mission with healthy fuel margins.
New Horizons will perform a series of four maneuvers in late October and early November to set its course toward 2014 MU69 – nicknamed “PT1” (for “Potential Target 1”) – which it expects to reach on January 1, 2019. Any delays from those dates would cost precious fuel and add mission risk.
New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colo., explained, “2014 MU69 is a great choice because it is just the kind of ancient KBO, formed where it orbits now, that the Decadal Survey desired us to fly by.”
He added, “Moreover, this KBO costs less fuel to reach [than other candidate targets], leaving more fuel for the flyby, for ancillary science, and greater fuel reserves to protect against the unforeseen.”
New Horizons originally was designed to fly beyond the Pluto system and explore additional Kuiper Belt objects.
The spacecraft carries extra hydrazine fuel for a KBO flyby; its communications system is designed to work from far beyond Pluto; its power system is designed to operate for many more years; and its scientific instruments were designed to operate in light levels much lower than it will experience during the 2014 MU69 flyby.”
The 2003 National Academy of Sciences’ Planetary Decadal Survey (“New Frontiers in the Solar System”) strongly recommended that the first mission to the Kuiper Belt include flybys of Pluto and small KBOs, in order to sample the diversity of objects in that previously unexplored region of the solar system.
The identification of PT1, which is in a completely different class of KBO than Pluto, potentially allows New Horizons to satisfy those goals.
But finding a suitable KBO flyby target was no easy task. Starting a search in 2011 using some of the largest ground-based telescopes on Earth, the New Horizons team found several dozen KBOs, but none were reachable within the fuel supply available aboard the spacecraft.
The powerful Hubble Space Telescope came to the rescue in summer 2014, discovering five objects, since narrowed to two, within New Horizons’ flight path. Scientists estimate that PT1 is just under 30 miles across; that’s more than 10 times larger and 1,000 times more massive than typical comets, like the one the Rosetta mission is now orbiting, but only about 0.5 to 1 percent of the size (and about 1/10,000th the mass) of Pluto. As such, PT1 is thought to be like the building blocks of Kuiper Belt planets such as Pluto.
Unlike asteroids, KBOs have been heated only slightly by the Sun, and are thought to represent a well preserved, deep-freeze sample of what the outer solar system was like following its birth 4.6 billion years ago.
“There’s so much that we can learn from close-up spacecraft observations that we’ll never learn from Earth, as the Pluto flyby demonstrated so spectacularly,” said New Horizons science team member John Spencer, also of SwRI. “The detailed images and other data that New Horizons could obtain from a KBO flyby will revolutionize our understanding of the Kuiper Belt and KBOs.”
The New Horizons spacecraft – currently 3 billion miles from Earth – is just starting to transmit the bulk of the images and other data, stored on its digital recorders, from its historic July encounter with the Pluto system. The spacecraft is healthy and operating normally.
New Horizons is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. SwRI leads the science mission, payload operations, and encounter science planning.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Two men who reached plea agreements with the District Attorney's Office for their part in a June 2013 home invasion robbery and shooting were sentenced this week in Lake County Superior Court, while a third man convicted in the case is seeking a new trial.
Clearlake residents Sean Douglas Foss, 22, and Tyler Christopher Gallon, 20, were sentenced on Wednesday after having entered pleas last month for their involvement in the June 26, 2013, home invasion at the home of Ronnie and Janeane Bogner in Clearlake Oaks.
The Bogners' adult son, Jacob, was shot in the leg, and Foss and Gallon – along with Dion Andre Davis, convicted earlier this year for his involvement, including having shot Jacob Bogner – fled the scene, later leading Clearlake Police Lt. Tim Celli on a high speed chase as well as a foot pursuit during which authorities said Davis shot at Celli.
A fourth individual, Jenaya Jelinek, Davis' girlfriend, drove the men from the scene. She reached an agreement with the District Attorney's Office in 2014 to plead to second-degree burglary and has since been released.
District Attorney Don Anderson said Foss was sentenced to nine years in state prison for armed robbery, and assault with a deadly weapon on Jacob Bogner and on Celli.
Gallon was sentenced to four years and four months in state prison for armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon on Celli, auto theft, resisting an executive officer and vandalism, according to Anderson.
Due to the violent nature of the crimes, both men must serve 85-percent of their sentences before they will be considered eligible for parole, Anderson said.
“Davis is still another story,” said Anderson.
In March, a jury found the 28-year-old Davis guilty of armed robbery, burglary, assault with a firearm on Jacob Bogner, assault with a semiautomatic firearm on Bogner, mayhem on Bogner, grand theft of a firearm, vehicle theft, vandalism, making threats of violence to Celli, assault with a semiautomatic firearm on Celli, assault with a deadly weapon on Celli, negligent discharge of a firearm, accessory to a robbery or burglary, conspiracy to commit a robbery or residential burglary, and found true 21 special allegations for use of a firearm, inflicting great bodily injury on Bogner and entering an inhabited dwelling in concert with others.
Tried along with Davis was his brother, Gregory Elarms. The jury deadlocked on all 10 charges against Elarms – robbery, burglary, two firearms assaults on Bogner, two firearm assaults on Celli, grand theft, vehicle theft, vandalism and conspiracy. The District Attorney's Office later elected to drop the case against Elarms.
Davis originally was set to be sentenced on May 20, but his defense attorney, Bill Conwell, said after the trial that he planned to file a motion for a new trial.
When reached for comment on the case, Conwell said he did not want to offer any statement until after the new trial motion is filed.
Anderson said Conwell has until Nov. 16 to file his new trial motion. Anderson has until Dec. 18 to reply, with Conwell given until Jan. 11 to issue a reply to Anderson's response.
While new trial motions aren't uncommon, Anderson said there have been a number of issues that have complicated this case, including numerous motions filed by Conwell in an effort to get personnel information on sheriff's Det. Doug Dahmen and evidence, Anderson said.
The motions regarding personnel matters were unsuccessful, but the motions seeking actual recordings of interviews with witnesses were granted, Anderson said.
Dahmen had been one of the detectives on the case, and his performance was a key issue for the defense during Davis' and Elarms' trial.
In particular, he had failed to follow up on alibi information for another man, Dexter Currington, who at one point had been taken into custody in the case. Dahmen also took six months to write a report on the jailhouse interview in which Currington gave him that alibi information. Currington later was cleared through the efforts of his attorney, David Markham.
During the trial, Dahmen also gave numerous conflicting statements about why he handled the case the way he did.
Because of Dahmen's credibility issues in the Bogner home invasion case, “He has become a Brady officer,” Anderson said.
The term “Brady” refers to the 1963 US Supreme Court Case Brady v. Maryland, which requires the government to disclose to defendants in criminal cases any information that could potentially clear them, including information about the credibility of law enforcement officers involved in their cases.
Anderson also had placed former Sheriff Frank Rivero on the list of Brady officers with credibility issues due to a finding that he had lied about shooting at an unarmed man during a 2008 incident.
Dahmen’s Brady issue has been a major complication in the case, Anderson said.
In response to a California Public Records Act request, Lake County Human Resources Director Kathy Ferguson told Lake County News that Dahmen is no longer employed with the county of Lake, with his last day being April 10.
Anderson said Davis is scheduled to return to court at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 26, at which time there will be a hearing on the new trial motion.
If that new trial motion is unsuccessful, Davis will be sentenced at that time, Anderson said.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – A teenager was flown to a trauma center after falling from the back of a pickup on Friday night, with the driver subsequently arrested.
The 15-year-old male from Kelseyville, whose name was not released, sustained major head trauma, according to a report from the California Highway Patrol.
The CHP said the incident occurred at 8 p.m. Friday on Todd Road Extension.
Barbara Sowash, 50, of Lakeport was driving a 1998 Dodge Dakota pickup westbound on Todd Road Extension at an undetermined speed, with the 15-year-old boy and another juvenile riding in the open bed of the pickup on the tailgate, the CHP said.
For reasons that the CHP said are yet to be determined, the male juvenile fell from the back of the pickup onto the dirt and gravel road, sustaining major injuries.
Medical personnel transported the teen to Sutter Lakeside Hospital. From there, the CHP said a REACH air ambulance took the boy to UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland.
The CHP said Sowash was evaluated at the scene and arrested on suspicion of felony driving under the influence of an alcoholic beverage and felony child endangerment.
Officer Ryan Erickson is investigating the crash, the CHP reported.
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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – An investigation that began earlier this month led on Friday to the arrest of a Clearlake man for sexually assaulting a 3-year-old girl.
Joseph Louis Flores, 39, was arrested and booked into the Lake County Jail, according to Clearlake Police Sgt. Martin Snyder.
Snyder said Flores was arrested for sexual acts with a child 10 years old or younger, oral copulation or sexual penetration of a child 10 years old or younger, aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14, aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14 with a foreign object, lewd or lascivious acts involving a child and specified sex offense subject to punishment by incarceration for life.
On the evening of Aug. 13 the Clearlake Police Department received information that a 3-year-old girl had possibly been the victim of a sexual assault, with two concerned citizens bringing the child to the police department to report the incident, Snyder said.
Det. Elvis Cook was assigned to the case and contacted the victim and reporting party, according to Snyder.
Snyder said it was determined that there was sufficient evidence to take the female juvenile into protective custody at that time, with the girl released to the care of Child Protective Services and placed into temporary housing.
Det. Cook and Det. Ryan Peterson continued the investigation into the allegations and, with the assistance of the victim, identified the suspect as Flores, Snyder said.
On Friday, at the request of police and the Lake County District Attorney's Office, Superior Court Judge Andrew Blum issued a $1 million arrest warrant for Flores, Snyder said.
Snyder said Det. Cook responded to Flores' residence and took him into custody without incident.
Due to the fact the victim is a minor, her identification is being withheld, Snyder said.
If anyone has information regarding this investigation they are encouraged to contact Det. Elvis Cook at 707-994-8251, Extension 315.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Congressman John Garamendi, the former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Interior Department and a current Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has introduced legislation that would restrict private drones within two miles of a wildfire or airport.
The bill would make it a federal offense, punishable by up to a year in prison or fines, to fly a commercial or private drone over an airport or active wildfire.
The legislation is in direct response to several incidents in California where private drones observing wildfires forced firefighting agencies to postpone air response out of fear of collision.
“Private drones impede emergency air response in situations where seconds matter. The regulations are not keeping pace with the technology, and it is putting lives, property, and habitats at risk,” Congressman Garamendi said.
“In California, we’ve seen air response to wildfires delayed due to private drones, and it’s made a dangerous situation worse,” he continued. “I understand the drone operators are not usually being malicious, but they are being reckless. It’s time to set clear boundaries and clear consequences for dangerous behavior that puts lives at risk.”
The U.S. Forest Service has identified 13 different wildfires this year where drones interfered with firefighting, up from four the previous year.
Most severely, during the Lake Fire in San Bernardino, drones forced low flying aircraft dropping fire retardant to abandon their mission at a critical juncture, enabling the fire to spread further and causing preventable property damage.
Drones have also been spotted over airspace at several U.S. airports, including John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City and LAX, disrupting flights and putting lives in danger.
As the Forest Service noted, “The unauthorized use of a ‘drone’ in the area of a wildfire poses serious safety risks to wildland fire aviators in the air and firefighters on the ground. Recent incursions have caused air operations over fires to be halted, increasing risks to firefighters and the public.”
Garamendi believes his legislation is essential to protect human life and property, and he will spare no effort to give this bill a hearing when Congress returns to session in September.
The cosmic butterfly pictured in the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shown above goes by many names. It is called the Twin Jet Nebula as well as answering to the slightly less poetic name of PN M2-9.
The M in this name refers to Rudolph Minkowski, a German-American astronomer who discovered the nebula in 1947. The PN, meanwhile, refers to the fact that M2-9 is a planetary nebula.
The glowing and expanding shells of gas clearly visible in this image represent the final stages of life for an old star of low to intermediate mass.
The star has not only ejected its outer layers, but the exposed remnant core is now illuminating these layers – resulting in a spectacular light show like the one seen here. However, the Twin Jet Nebula is not just any planetary nebula, it is a bipolar nebula.
Ordinary planetary nebulae have one star at their center, bipolar nebulae have two, in a binary star system.
Astronomers have found that the two stars in this pair each have around the same mass as the Sun, ranging from 0.6 to 1.0 solar masses for the smaller star, and from 1.0 to 1.4 solar masses for its larger companion.
The larger star is approaching the end of its days and has already ejected its outer layers of gas into space, whereas its partner is further evolved, and is a small white dwarf.
The characteristic shape of the wings of the Twin Jet Nebula is most likely caused by the motion of the two central stars around each other.
It is believed that a white dwarf orbits its partner star and thus the ejected gas from the dying star is pulled into two lobes rather than expanding as a uniform sphere. However, astronomers are still debating whether all bipolar nebulae are created by binary stars.
Meanwhile the nebula’s wings are still growing and, by measuring their expansion, astronomers have calculated that the nebula was created only 1200 years ago.
Within the wings, starting from the star system and extending horizontally outwards like veins are two faint blue patches.
Although these may seem subtle in comparison to the nebula’s rainbow colors, these are actually violent twin jets streaming out into space, at speeds in excess of one million kilometres per hour. This is a phenomenon that is another consequence of the binary system at the heart of the nebula.
These jets slowly change their orientation, precessing across the lobes as they are pulled by the wayward gravity of the binary system.
The two stars at the heart of the nebula circle one another roughly every 100 years. This rotation not only creates the wings of the butterfly and the two jets, it also allows the white dwarf to strip gas from its larger companion, which then forms a large disc of material around the stars, extending out as far as 15 times the orbit of Pluto.
Even though this disc is of incredible size, it is much too small to be seen on the image taken by Hubble.
An earlier image of the Twin Jet Nebula using data gathered by Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 was released in 1997. This newer version incorporates more recent observations from the telescope’s Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph.
A version of this image was entered into the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition, submitted by contestant Judy Schmidt.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.