agenda- the planetary data system small bodies node（行星数据系统小节点）.doc

Ralph: A Visible/Infrared Imager for the New Horizons Pluto/Kuiper Belt Mission Dennis C. Reuter1, S. Alan Stern2, John Scherrer3, Donald E. Jennings1, James Baer4, John Hanley3, Lisa Hardaway4, Allen Lunsford1, Stuart McMuldroch5, Jeffrey Moore6, Cathy Olkin7, Robert Parizek4, Harold Reitsma4, Derek Sabatke4, John Spencer7, John Stone3, Henry Throop7, Jeffrey Van Cleve4, Gerald E. Weigle3 and Leslie A.Young7 1NASA/GSFC, Code 693, Greenbelt, MD 20771 2Space Sciences and Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), 1050 Walnut St., Suite 400, Boulder CO, 80302 3SwRI, 6220 Culebra Rd., San Antonio TX, 78228 4Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation (BATC), 1600 Commerce St, Boulder, CO 80301 5SSG Precision Optronics, 65 Jonspin Rd., Wilmington MA, 01887 6NASA/Ames Research Center, MS 245-3, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000 7Dept. of Space Studies, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), 1050 Walnut St., Suite 400, Boulder CO, 80302 ABSTRACT The New Horizons instrument named Ralph is a visible/near infrared multi-spectral imager and a short wavelength infrared spectral imager. It is one of the core instruments on New Horizons, NASA’s first mission to the Pluto/Charon system and the Kuiper Belt. Ralph combines panchromatic and color imaging capabilities with IR imaging spectroscopy. Its primary purpose is to map the surface geology and composition of these objects, but it will also be used for atmospheric studies and to map the surface temperature. It is a compact, low-mass (10.5 kg) power efficient (7.1 W peak), and robust instrument with good sensitivity and excellent imaging characteristics. Other than a door opened once in flight, it has no moving parts. These characteristics and its high degree of redundancy make Ralph ideally suited to this long-duration flyby reconnaissance mission. 1. INTRODUCTION New Horizons, a flyby mission to the Pluto/Charon system and the Kuiper Belt, is the first in NASA’s New Frontiers line of moderate-sc