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Ralph: A Visible/Infrared Imager for the New Horizons Pluto/Kuiper Belt Mission |
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| Authors: | Dennis C Reuter S Alan Stern John Scherrer Donald E Jennings James W Baer John Hanley Lisa Hardaway Allen Lunsford Stuart McMuldroch Jeffrey Moore Cathy Olkin Robert Parizek Harold Reitsma Derek Sabatke John Spencer John Stone Henry Throop Jeffrey Van Cleve Gerald E Weigle Leslie A Young |
| Institution: | 1. Code 693, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA 2. Space Sciences and Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), 1050 Walnut St., Suite 400, Boulder, CO, 80302, USA 3. SwRI, 6220 Culebra Rd., San Antonio, TX, 78228, USA 4. Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation (BATC), 1600 Commerce St., Boulder, CO, 80301, USA 5. SSG Precision Optronics, 65 Jonspin Rd., Wilmington, MA, 01887, USA 6. MS 245-3, NASA/Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, 94035-1000, USA 7. Dept. of Space Studies, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), 1050 Walnut St., Suite 400, Boulder, CO, 80302, USA |
| 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 SWIR 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. |
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