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

Hector Javier Durand-Manterola; Hector Perez-de-Tejada

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arXiv · 1505.07311

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

Hector Javier Durand-Manterola·Hector Perez-de-Tejada

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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.

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Hector Javier Durand-Manterola, Hector Perez-de-Tejada. 2015-01-03. Possible scenarios that the New Horizons spacecraft may find in its close encounter with Pluto. https://arxiv.org/abs/1505.07311

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