P077-0003
Persephone: A Pluto-System Orbiter and Kuiper Belt Explorer
Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Poster
Carly Howett1, Stuart Robbins2, Amanda R Hendrix3, Mark E Perry4, Heather Alison Elliott5, Carolyn M Ernst6, Bryan Holler7, J.J. Kavelaars8, William B McKinnon9, Francis Nimmo10, Jon Pineau11, Simon Porter1, Silvia Protopapa5, Jani Radebaugh12, Kelsi N Singer2, John R Spencer2, Alan Stern13, Adam Thodey14, Orenthal J Tucker15, Anne Verbiscer15, Robert J Wilson16 and L A Young1, (1)Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, United States, (3)Planetary Science Institute Tucson, Tucson, AZ, United States, (4)JHU/APL--Space Dept, Laurel, MD, United States, (5)Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, United States, (6)JHU Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD, United States, (7)Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States, (8)National Research Council of Canada, NRC-Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics, Victoria, BC, Canada, (9)Washington University in Saint Louis, Saint Louis, MO, United States, (10)University of California-Santa Cruz, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Santa Cruz, CA, United States, (11)Stellar Solutions, Chantilly, United States, (12)Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, United States, (13)Southwest Research Institute San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States, (14)Colorado State University, Fort Collins, United States, (15)University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States, (16)University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
Persephone is a mission concept that addresses key questions raised by New Horizons’ encounters with Kuiper Belt Objects (KBO), with arguably the most important being
“Does Pluto have an ocean?” which has critical astrobiological impacts. More broadly, Persephone will answer three significant science questions: What are the internal structures of Pluto and Charon? How have the surfaces and atmospheres in the Pluto system evolved? How has the KBO population evolved?
To answer these questions Persephone has a comprehensive payload, and will both orbit within the Pluto system, and have other planned KBO encounters. The nominal mission is 30.7-years long, with a planned to launch on an SLS, and existing electric propulsion (EP) technology and a Jupiter gravity assist to reach Pluto orbit in 27.6 years. En route to Pluto Persephone will have one 50- to 100- km-class KBO encounter, before reaching the Pluto-system and starting its 3.1-year orbital campaign of that system. The mission also includes the potential for an extended mission, with a recommendation of an 8-year campaign, which would enable the exploration of another KBO in the 100- to 150-km-class.
Five RTGs are baselined to power the spacecraft, instruments and EP system. Eleven instruments are included: Panchromatic and Color High-Resolution Imager (NAC), Low-Light Camera (WAC), UV Spectrometer, Near-IR Spectrometer, Thermal IR Camera, RF Spectrometer, Mass Spectrometer, Altimeter, Sounding Radar, Magnetometer, and Plasma Spectrometer. The nominal cost of this mission is $3.0B, making it a large strategic science mission.
