Exploring the Kuiper Belt: An extended Pluto mission

A robotic flyby mission to the planet Pluto is being planned for launch ear ly in the next decade. The spacecraft will continue on out of the solar sys tem in an almost radial direction traveling at about four AU per year and b egin transiting the Kuiper Belt shortly after Pluto encounter. Recent disco veries and observations of Kuiper Belt objects have generated increased int erest in the characteristics of these bodies. This paper examines the oppor tunities and requirements for extending the Pluto mission to include the se arch for, and encounters with, objects in the Kuiper Disk at 40+ AU. The tr ajectory and Delta V requirements will be presented. An automated, on-board sky survey will be proposed to inventory the Kuiper objects in the vicinit y of the flight path and to identify which objects are candidates for alter ing the trajectory for a close flyby. A possible Kuiper object encounter sc ience scenario will be described. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Lt d. All rights reserved.