New Horizons update for March 2005

In the past month, the spacecraft has seen its high-gain antenna come aboard for an important fit check, and seen both its flight power system and main computer qualified and installed. The bird also received a guidance, navigation and control software load, and the first testing of the autonomy system (that provides for fault protection) has taken place. Coming soon to the spacecraft are the redundant flight computer, the gyros and the Ralph remote-sensing package.

We are now approaching the time - only weeks away - when the last avionics box goes on the spacecraft and New Horizons is dressed in thermal blankets for environmental testing in a large vacuum chamber at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.