“新视野号”探测冥王星及柯伊伯带综述
Review for New Horizon Mission to the Pluto and Kuiper Belt
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摘要: 迄今为止飞得最快的航天器、人类发射的第一个冥王星探测器——"新视野号",经过约9年的行星际旅行,于2015年1月15日抵达距地球约47亿千米的冥王星附近,开始探测冥王星、冥卫、以及它们所处的柯伊柏带其他天体。柯伊柏带是1992年才发现的太阳系新大陆,虽然冥王星已被重新定义为矮行星,却从一颗颇具争议的行星成为数千颗冰冻小天体的"领头羊"。本文介绍了"新视野号"的科学目标和有效载荷,分析了"新视野号"采用的探测器长期休眠、木星借力、太空核能等关键技术,探讨了冥王星和柯伊柏带探测的意义。作为太阳系的冷库,柯伊伯带天体保留着太阳系形成时的原始状态,对它的探测,有助于揭示太阳系行星形成时的关键环节。"新视野号"也可能发现新的太阳系行星,其成果将有助于我们更深入地认识太阳系。Abstract: After nine years interplanetary flight, the fastest spacecraft and the first Pluto probe in the world, New Horizon spacecraft, arrived nearby to the Pluto on Jan. 15, 2015. Its distance to the Earth is about 4.7 billion kilometers. New Horizon will probe the Pluto and its satellites, and the other objects in the Kuiper belt. The Kuiper belt is firstly discovered in 1992. It is a new world in the solar system. Since the discovery of numerous Kuiper objects, the Pluto has been downgraded to a dwarf planet in 2006. However, it has become the shepherd object of thousands of frozen celestial bodies in the Kuiper belt. This paper reviewed the science goals and payloads aboard the spacecraft. We summarized the overall design of the New Horizon mission. The key technologies include long-term non-activation and steep, acceleration by the gravity of the Jupiter, the application of space nuclear energy. Since the cold and dark environments, the celestial bodies in the Kuiper belt remain its original state since the solar system was formed. The exploration of the Pluto system and the Kuiper belts will help to reveal the key stage of the formation of planets. It is possible for the New Horizon mission to discover the new planets in the solar system. Its achievements will improve our knowledge of whole image of the solar system.