English

Possible scenarios that the New Horizons spacecraft may find in its close encounter with Pluto

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2015-05-28 v1

Abstract

Next year, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft will have a close encounter with Pluto. In the present study we discuss some possibilities regarding what the spacecraft may encounter during its approach to Pluto. Among them we should include: the presence of geological activity due to heat generated by tides; the unlikely presence of an intrinsic magnetic field; the possibility of a plasmasphere and a plasmapause; the position of an ionopause; the existence of an ionospheric trans-terminator flow similar to that at Venus and Mars; and the presence of a Magnus force that produces a deflection of Pluto plasma wake. This deflection oscillates up and down in its orbit around the sun.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1505.07311,
  title  = {Possible scenarios that the New Horizons spacecraft may find in its close encounter with Pluto},
  author = {Hector Javier Durand-Manterola and Hector Perez-de-Tejada},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1505.07311},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

12 pages, 1 figure