1.
New Horizons
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New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASAs New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and the Southwest Research Institute, on January 19,2006, New Horizons was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station directly into an Earth-and-solar escape trajectory with a speed of about 16.26 kilometers per second. After a brief encounter with asteroid 132524 APL, New Horizons proceeded to Jupiter, making its closest approach on February 28,2007, most of the post-Jupiter voyage was spent in hibernation mode to preserve on-board systems, except for brief annual checkouts. On December 6,2014, New Horizons was brought online for the Pluto encounter. On January 15,2015, the New Horizons spacecraft began its approach phase to Pluto, on July 14,2015, at 11,49 UTC, it flew 12,500 km above the surface of Pluto, making it the first spacecraft to explore the dwarf planet. On October 25,2016, at 21,48 UTC, the last of the recorded data from the Pluto flyby was received from New Horizons. Having completed its flyby of Pluto, New Horizons has maneuvered for a flyby of Kuiper belt object 2014 MU69, expected to place on January 1,2019. Appointed as the principal investigator, Stern was described by Krimigis as the personification of the Pluto mission. New Horizons was based largely on Sterns work since Pluto 350, the New Horizons proposal was one of five that were officially submitted to NASA. It was later selected as one of two finalists to be subject to a concept study, in June 2001. In November 2001, New Horizons was officially selected for funding as part of the New Frontiers program. However, the new NASA Administrator appointed by the Bush Administration, Sean OKeefe, was not supportive of New Horizons, after an intense campaign to gain support for New Horizons, the Planetary Science Decadal Survey of 2003-2013 was published in the summer of 2002. New Horizons topped the list of projects considered the highest priority among the community in the medium-size category, ahead of missions to the Moon. Weiler stated that it was a result that administration was not going to fight, Alice Bowman became Mission Operations Manager. New Horizons is the first mission in NASAs New Frontiers mission category, larger and more expensive than the Discovery missions, the cost of the mission is approximately $700 million over 15 years. The spacecraft was built primarily by Southwest Research Institute and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, the missions principal investigator is Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute. After separation from the vehicle, overall control was taken by Mission Operations Center at the Applied Physics Laboratory in Howard County. The science instruments are operated at Clyde Tombaugh Science Operations Center in Boulder, New Horizons was originally planned as a voyage to the only unexplored planet in the Solar System
2.
Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research
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LINEAR was responsible for the majority of asteroid discoveries from 1998 until it was overtaken by the Catalina Sky Survey in 2005. As of 15 September 2011, LINEAR had detected 231,082 new small Solar System bodies, the instruments used by the LINEAR program are located at Lincoln Laboratorys Experimental Test Site on the White Sands Missile Range near Socorro, New Mexico. In the late 1970s, the new Lincoln Laboratorys Experimental Test Site facility was built at White Sands Missile Range, the projects prototype used low-light video cameras. In 1994 a new proposal was made for automated detection of asteroids, the wide-field Air Force telescopes were designed for optical observation of Earth-orbiting spacecraft. Initial field tests used a 1024 ×1024 pixel charge-coupled device detector, while this CCD detector filled only about one fifth of the telescopes field of view, four near-earth objects were discovered. A1960 ×2560 pixel CCD which covered the telescopes two-square degree field of view was then installed, the first LINEAR telescope became fully operational in March 1998. Beginning in October 1999, a second 1.0 m telescope was added to the search effort, in 2002, a 0.5 m telescope equipped with the original CCD was brought on-line to provide follow-up observations for the discoveries made by the two search telescopes. This allowed about 20% more of the sky to be searched each night, data recorded by the telescopes is sent to a Lincoln Laboratory facility at Hanscom Air Force Base in Lexington, Massachusetts for processing. Detections are then forwarded to the Minor Planet Center, other objects discovered include 1999 AN10,2002 TD66, and 2004 FH. Stokes, Frank Shelly, Herbert E. M. Viggh, Matthew S. Blythe, and Joseph S. Stuart Near Earth Object program – discovery statistics, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
3.
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
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Research and development activities focus on long-term technology development as well as rapid system prototyping and demonstration. These efforts are aligned within key mission areas, the laboratory works with industry to transition new concepts and technology for system development and deployment. The laboratory also maintains several field sites around the world, the laboratorys inception was prompted by the Air Defense Systems Engineering Committees 1950 report that concluded the United States was unprepared for the threat of an air attack. S. Air Force suggested that MIT could provide the research needed to develop an air defense that could detect, identify, james R. Killian, then president of MIT, was not eager for MIT to become involved in air defense. He asked the Air Force if MIT could first conduct a study to evaluate the need for a new laboratory, killians proposal was approved, and a study named Project Charles was carried out between February and August 1951. The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment Air Defense System is the beginning of MIT Lincoln Laboratorys history of developing innovative technology, the system was conceived to meet the challenge of providing air defense to the continental United States. SAGE was designed to collect, analyze, and finally relay data from a multitude of radars, the key to this system was a computer that could perform reliably in real time. MITs Whirlwind computer, built in the 1940s, looked to be a candidate for the system. However, the Whirlwind was not reliable or fast enough for the processing needed for analyzing data coming in from dozens of, perhaps even 100, the magnetic core memory revolutionized computing. Computers became machines that were not just large and fast calculators, industry followed this development closely, adopting the magnetic core memory that expanded the capabilities of computers. Lincoln Laboratory quickly established a reputation for pioneering advanced electronics in air defense systems, many of the technical developments that later evolved into improved systems for the airborne detection and tracking of aircraft and ground vehicles have formed the basis for current research. Lincoln Laboratory conducts research and development pertinent to national security on behalf of the services, the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Projects focus on the development and prototyping of new technologies and capabilities, program activities extend from fundamental investigations, through simulation and analysis, to design and field testing of prototype systems. Emphasis is placed on transitioning technology to industry, the dissemination of information to the government, academia, and industry is a principal focus of Lincoln Laboratorys technical mission. Wide dissemination of information is achieved through annual technical workshops, seminars. Current news about Laboratory technical milestones is featured on the laboratorys website, MIT Lincoln Laboratory maintains a strong relationship with the MIT campus. Approximately 1700 technical staff members work on research, prototype building, the technical staff come from a broad range of scientific and engineering fields, with electrical engineering, physics, computer science and mathematics being among the most prevalent. Two-thirds of the staff hold advanced degrees, and 60% of those degrees are at the doctoral level
4.
Applied Physics Laboratory
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The, located in Howard County, Maryland, near Laurel and Columbia, is a not-for-profit, university-affiliated research center employing 6,000 people. APL is primarily a defense contractor and it serves as a technical resource for the Department of Defense, NASA, and other government agencies. The Lab is a research and development organization rather than an academic division of Johns Hopkins University. Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering offers part-time graduate programs through its Engineering for Professionals program, courses are taught at seven locations in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area, including the APL Education Center. Its founding director was Merle Anthony Tuve, the Laboratory succeeded in developing the variable-time proximity fuze that played a significant role in the Allied victory. In response to the success, the APL created the MK57 gun director in 1944. Pleased with the APLs work, the Navy then tasked it with the mission to find a way to negate guided missile threats, from there on, the APL became very involved in wartime research. Expected to disband at the end of the war, APL instead became involved in the development of guided missile technology for the Navy. At governmental request, the University continued to maintain the Laboratory as a public service, APL was originally located in Silver Spring, Maryland in a used-car garage at the former Wolf Motor Company building at 8621 Georgia Avenue. APL moved to Laurel beginning in 1954, with the construction of a two million dollar building and a $700,000 wing expansion in 1956, the final staff transitioned to the new facility in 1975. Before moving to Laurel, APL also maintained the Forest Grove Station, north of Silver Spring on Georgia Avenue near todays Forest Glen Metro, the Forest Grove Station was vacated and torn down in 1963 and flight simulations were moved to Laurel. The Laboratorys name comes from its origins in World War II, about half of the technical staff are engineers, and 25% have computer science and math degrees. APL conducts programs in fundamental and applied research, exploratory and advanced development, test and evaluation, in 1965, the US Army contracted with APL to develop and implement a test and evaluation program for the Pershing missile systems. In 1990, APL became involved with Operation Desert Storm and was involved in the Gulf Crisis Room among other efforts, in the same decade, APL, along with Johns Hopkins University, developed an algorithm that allowed for automatic mammogram analysis. In 2014, the APL made history with the use of Modular Prosthetic Limbs by a bilateral shoulder-level amputee. APL used pattern recognition algorithms to track which muscles were contracting, the Lab is currently developing the Solar Probe Plus mission to probe the outer corona of the Sun. Located on a 399-acre campus, APL is also home to a Johns Hopkins graduate program in engineering and applied sciences, the U. S. Navy continues to be APLs primary long-term sponsor. The Laboratory performs work for the Missile Defense Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, intelligence agencies, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Laboratory supports NASA through space science, spacecraft design and fabrication, and mission operations
5.
Minor planet
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A minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is neither a planet nor exclusively classified as a comet. Minor planets can be dwarf planets, asteroids, trojans, centaurs, Kuiper belt objects, as of 2016, the orbits of 709,706 minor planets were archived at the Minor Planet Center,469,275 of which had received permanent numbers. The first minor planet to be discovered was Ceres in 1801, the term minor planet has been used since the 19th century to describe these objects. The term planetoid has also used, especially for larger objects such as those the International Astronomical Union has called dwarf planets since 2006. Historically, the asteroid, minor planet, and planetoid have been more or less synonymous. This terminology has become complicated by the discovery of numerous minor planets beyond the orbit of Jupiter. A Minor planet seen releasing gas may be classified as a comet. Before 2006, the IAU had officially used the term minor planet, during its 2006 meeting, the IAU reclassified minor planets and comets into dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies. Objects are called dwarf planets if their self-gravity is sufficient to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium, all other minor planets and comets are called small Solar System bodies. The IAU stated that the minor planet may still be used. However, for purposes of numbering and naming, the distinction between minor planet and comet is still used. Hundreds of thousands of planets have been discovered within the Solar System. The Minor Planet Center has documented over 167 million observations and 729,626 minor planets, of these,20,570 have official names. As of March 2017, the lowest-numbered unnamed minor planet is 1974 FV1, as of March 2017, the highest-numbered named minor planet is 458063 Gustavomuler. There are various broad minor-planet populations, Asteroids, traditionally, most have been bodies in the inner Solar System. Near-Earth asteroids, those whose orbits take them inside the orbit of Mars. Further subclassification of these, based on distance, is used, Apohele asteroids orbit inside of Earths perihelion distance. Aten asteroids, those that have semi-major axes of less than Earths, Apollo asteroids are those asteroids with a semimajor axis greater than Earths, while having a perihelion distance of 1.017 AU or less. Like Aten asteroids, Apollo asteroids are Earth-crossers, amor asteroids are those near-Earth asteroids that approach the orbit of Earth from beyond, but do not cross it
6.
Asteroid belt
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The asteroid belt is the circumstellar disc in the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets, the asteroid belt is also termed the main asteroid belt or main belt to distinguish it from other asteroid populations in the Solar System such as near-Earth asteroids and trojan asteroids. About half the mass of the belt is contained in the four largest asteroids, Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, the total mass of the asteroid belt is approximately 4% that of the Moon, or 22% that of Pluto, and roughly twice that of Plutos moon Charon. Ceres, the belts only dwarf planet, is about 950 km in diameter, whereas Vesta, Pallas. The remaining bodies range down to the size of a dust particle, the asteroid material is so thinly distributed that numerous unmanned spacecraft have traversed it without incident. Nonetheless, collisions between large asteroids do occur, and these can form a family whose members have similar orbital characteristics. Individual asteroids within the belt are categorized by their spectra. The asteroid belt formed from the solar nebula as a group of planetesimals. Planetesimals are the precursors of the protoplanets. Between Mars and Jupiter, however, gravitational perturbations from Jupiter imbued the protoplanets with too much energy for them to accrete into a planet. Collisions became too violent, and instead of fusing together, the planetesimals, as a result,99. 9% of the asteroid belts original mass was lost in the first 100 million years of the Solar Systems history. Some fragments eventually found their way into the inner Solar System, Asteroid orbits continue to be appreciably perturbed whenever their period of revolution about the Sun forms an orbital resonance with Jupiter. At these orbital distances, a Kirkwood gap occurs as they are swept into other orbits. Classes of small Solar System bodies in other regions are the objects, the centaurs, the Kuiper belt objects, the scattered disc objects, the sednoids. On 22 January 2014, ESA scientists reported the detection, for the first definitive time, of water vapor on Ceres, the detection was made by using the far-infrared abilities of the Herschel Space Observatory. The finding was unexpected because comets, not asteroids, are considered to sprout jets. According to one of the scientists, The lines are becoming more and more blurred between comets and asteroids. This pattern, now known as the Titius–Bode law, predicted the semi-major axes of the six planets of the provided one allowed for a gap between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
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