Ralph (New Horizons)

Composite image from Ralph-MVIC of Jupiter

thumb|Ralph's MVIC-channel image of Jupiter's moon Io

Ralph is a science instrument aboard the robotic New Horizons spacecraft, which was launched in 2006.[1] Ralph is a visible and infrared imager and spectrometer to provide maps of relevant astronomical targets based on data from that hardware.[1] Ralph has two major subinstruments, LEISA and MVIC.[2] MVIC stands for Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera and is a color imaging device, while LEISA originally stood for Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array and is an infrared imaging spectrometer for spaceflight.[2] LEISA observes 250 discrete wavelengths of infrared light from 1.25 to 2.5 micrometers.[3] MVIC is a pushbroom scanner type of design with seven channels, including red, blue, near-infrared (NIR), and methane.[4]

## Contents

* 1 Overview
* 2 Naming
* 3 Methane observations
* 4 Specifications
* 5 Images
* 5.1 486958 Arrokoth
* 6 See also
* 7 Notes
* 8 References
* 9 External links

## Overview

Ralph is one of seven major instruments aboard New Horizons which was launched in 2006 and flew by the dwarf planet Pluto in 2015.[5][6]

At Pluto, Ralph enables the observation of many aspects including:[7]

* geology of Pluto
* form
* structure
* surface composition
* surface temperature

Ralph and Alice were used to characterize the atmosphere of Pluto in 2015.[8] Ralph was previously used to observe the planet Jupiter and its moons in 2006 and in 2007 when it flew-by en route out of the Solar System and past Pluto.[9][10] Observations of Jupiter were taken with Ralph in February 2007, when New Horizons was about 6 million kilometers (nearly 4 million miles) from the giant.[10]

Ralph took color images of Arrokoth during the New Horizons flyby on January 1, 2019.[11] Ralph, in conjunction with the LORRI telescope, was used to make a digital elevation map of the body.

A version of Ralph is carried on Lucy, which is visiting six Jupiter trojans and an asteroid in the 2020s.[12] The developers of that spacecraft noted in particular Ralph's ability to observe visible and infrared light by splitting the light stream, and then analyze two spectrums of light at the same time.[12]

## Naming

Ralph

Ralph is named after a character in the 1950s television show The Honeymooners,[13] along with another New Horizons instrument, Alice.[14]

LEISA's acronym was retitled from Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array to Lisa Hardaway Infrared Mapping Spectrometer by NASA in June 2017, after Ralph's program manager.[15] Lisa Hardaway was an aerospace engineer and New Horizons Ralph instrument program manager who died in January 2017 at the age of 50.[16] Hardaway was honored with Engineer of the Year for 2015–2016 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Rocky Mountain Section) and Women in Aerospace organization awarded her a leadership award in 2015.[17] In the summer of 2017, NASA renamed the LEISA channel in her honor.[18]

> Lisa made incredible contributions to New Horizons and our success in exploring Pluto, and we wanted to celebrate those contributions in a special way by dedicating the LEISA spectrometer in her honor.

> --New Horizons principal investigator[18]

## Methane observations

An example of Ralph's abilities is shown by this detection of methane on the surface of Pluto (left), overlaid on an image from LORRI on the right:

Ralph methane detections (left) overlaid onto a LORRI image of dwarf planet Pluto (right)

LEISA channel data, showing its lower definition infrared image of Pluto but with recorded infrared spectra of the dwarf planet in false color. Two infrared spectra are shown, from the outlined regions in the global map to the left. 1 Micron is 1000 nm, and visible light is below 1 Micron.

In 2018 it was announced, based on New Horizons high resolution data, that some of the plains of Pluto have dunes made of methane ice granules.[19] The dunes are thought to have been formed by the blowing winds of Pluto, which are not as dense as those of Earth, and were compared to Dunes elsewhere in the Solar System such as on Saturn's moon Titan.[20]

## Specifications

Water ice identified on Pluto with Ralph spectral signatures of water ice from LEISA noted in blue on top of MVIC imaging This extremely low-light image is a view of the dark side of Pluto's moon Charon, lit by starlight and Plutoshine. Ralph-MVIC channel data Arrokoth image taken by Ralph-MVIC (January 2, 2019 release)

Specifications:[21]

* Mass: 10.5 kilograms (23 lb)
* Max power use: 7.1 watts
* Telescope design
* Unobscured
* Off-axis
* Three-mirror anastigmat
* Aperture 75 mm[22]
* f/8.7
* Effective focal length 658 mm
* Electronic control boards
* Detector electronics (DE)
* Command and data handling (C&DH)
* Low voltage power supply (LVPS)

The one telescope feeds light to both LEISA and MVIC channels, with light split by a dichroic beamsplitter.[21][22]

* MVIC detects light between 400 and 975 nm wavelengths
* LEISA detects light between 1250 and 2500 nm wavelengths

MVIC has seven CCDs that are wide but short, utilizing time-delay integration to read the imaging area.[23] These channels have a resolution of 5024×32 pixels, with the larger direction providing the swath of the image.[23] There are seven channels, with 6 used for time delay integration imaging and the seventh with an array of 5024×128 for navigation framing.[23] MVIC has a field of view that is 5.8 degrees wide[23] The framing channel, with 5024×128 pixel size, is panchromatic and a field of view of 5.7 degrees × 0.15 degrees.[24] Unlike the other six channels, it can stare at one target and take an image.[25] The purpose of this channel is to support optical navigation.[22] The Navigation channel is a Frame array that operates as a single frame, rather than the other channels which generate an image by time delay integration.[25]

MVIC Bands:[23] There are six channels that use Time Delay Integration and another that takes a frame and is for navigation.[22]

* 2 panchromatic channels (observing light wavelengths from 400 to 975 nm)
* Blue (400–550 nm)
* Red (540–700 nm)
* Near infrared (from 780 up to 975 nm light wavelengths)
* methane band (860–910 nm)
* Navigation channel / framing array

LEISA achieved its highest resolution data of Pluto of about 3 km/pixel at New Horizon's closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, when it was 47,000 km distant.[26]

## Images

During the flyby of Pluto on July 14, 2015, Ralph was able to collect data on Pluto and its moons yielding various image results. In addition, the MVIC color channels were often the source of color on the otherwise panchromatic LORRI images.

This image of Pluto from July 2015 flyby includes Ralph-MVIC red, blue, and NIR color data.[27]

Ralph-MVIC view's a 250 miles (400 kilometers) section of Pluto on July 14, 2015[28]

Attempted natural color view using only data from MVIC channel[29]

An example of an image from LORRI, a view of Pluto's terrain from its 2015 flyby of the dwarf planet with Ralph-MVIC data from Red, Blue, and Near IR channels. This image is about 330 miles (530 kilometers) across

### 486958 Arrokoth

## See also

* UVS (Ultraviolet imaging spectrometer on Juno Jupiter orbiter)
* Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (Infrared imaging on Juno orbiter)
* Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM, an imaging spectrometer in Mars orbit)
* List of New Horizons topics

## Notes

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Talbert, Tricia (2015-03-25). "Spacecraft and Instruments". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/spacecraft/index.html.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Weaver, et al – Overview of the New Horizons Science Payload
3. ↑ FEATURED IMAGE: A Look From LEISA
4. ↑ Stockton, Nick. "The Camera Adding Color to Your Pluto Pics Has Bigger Plans". Wired. https://www.wired.com/2015/07/camera-adding-color-pluto-pics-bigger-plans/.
5. ↑ "Pluto | New Horizons | Exploring the Planets | National Air and Space Museum". https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/exploring-the-planets/online/solar-system/pluto/new-horizons.cfm.
6. ↑ "New Horizons' Dramatic Journey to Pluto Revealed in New Book". Space.com. https://www.space.com/40453-chasing-new-horizons-alan-stern-interview.html.
7. ↑ "Meet Ralph, the New Horizons Camera Bringing Pluto into Sharp Focus – SpaceNews.com". SpaceNews.com. 2015-07-11. https://spacenews.com/new-horizons-about-to-bring-an-unknown-world-into-sharp-focus/.
8. ↑ "New Horizons begins Pluto observations ahead of July flyby – NASASpaceFlight.com". 19 January 2015. https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/01/new-horizons-pluto-observations-july-flyby/.
9. ↑ "NASA – Jupiter Ahoy!". https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/news/release_jupiter.html.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "NASA – A Look From LEISA". https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/news/LEISA_Jupiter.html.
11. ↑ New Horizons explores the Kuiper Belt
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Aboard the first spacecraft to the trojan asteroids—NASA Ralph's next adventure". https://phys.org/news/2018-11-aboard-spacecraft-trojan-asteroidsnasa-ralph.html.
13. ↑ "Honeymooners, The". Encyclopedia of Television. The Museum of Broadcast Communications. http://www.museum.tv/eotv/honeymooners.htm. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
14. ↑ Gipson, Lillian (2017-06-23). "NASA's New Horizons Mission Honors Memory of Engineer Lisa Hardaway". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-new-horizons-mission-honors-memory-of-engineer-lisa-hardaway.
15. ↑ Gipson, Lillian, ed (June 23, 2017). "NASA's New Horizons Mission Honors Memory of Engineer Lisa Hardaway". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-new-horizons-mission-honors-memory-of-engineer-lisa-hardaway.
16. ↑ "Lisa Hardaway, pioneering Ball Aerospace engineer in Boulder, dies at 50". 26 January 2017. http://www.dailycamera.com/science_environment/ci_30753828/lisa-hardaway-pioneering-ball-aerospace-engineer-dies-at.
17. ↑ "Lisa Hardaway, pioneering Ball Aerospace engineer in Boulder, dies at 50". 26 January 2017. http://www.dailycamera.com/science_environment/ci_30753828/lisa-hardaway-pioneering-ball-aerospace-engineer-dies-at.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Gipson, Lillian (2017-06-23). "NASA's New Horizons Mission Honors Memory of Engineer Lisa Hardaway". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-new-horizons-mission-honors-memory-of-engineer-lisa-hardaway.
19. ↑ Koren, Marina (2018-05-31). "What Pluto and California Have in Common". The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/05/pluto-california-methane-dunes/561614/.
20. ↑ "A brief history of Pluto". Nature 439 (7075): 378–9. January 2006. doi:10.1038/439378b. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 16437073. Bibcode: 2006Natur.439..378..
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Ralph: A Visible/Infrared Imager for the New Horizons Pluto/Kuiper Belt Mission
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 Ralph: A Visible/Infrared Imager for the New Horizons Pluto/Kuiper Belt Mission
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 "Meet Ralph, the New Horizons probe imaging tool responsible for Pluto photos". DPReview. https://www.dpreview.com/articles/5293237047/nasa-new-horizons-probe-cameras-ralph.
24. ↑ "PDS: Instrument Information". Planetary Data System. NASA. https://pds.nasa.gov/ds-view/pds/viewInstrumentProfile.jsp?INSTRUMENT_ID=MVIC&INSTRUMENT_HOST_ID=NH.
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 "PDS: Instrument Information". https://pds.nasa.gov/ds-view/pds/viewInstrumentProfile.jsp?INSTRUMENT_ID=MVIC&INSTRUMENT_HOST_ID=NH.
26. ↑ "Highest Spatial Resolution New Horizons Leisa Spectral-Imaging Scan of Pluto"
27. ↑ Talbert, Tricia (2015-10-15). "New Horizons Publishes First Research Paper in 'Science'". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-horizons-publishes-first-research-paper-in-science-describing-numerous-pluto-system.
28. ↑ "Catalog Page for PIA20726". https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20726.
29. ↑ "New Horizons". http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Multimedia/Science-Photos/image.php?page=1&gallery_id=2&image_id=543.

## External links

* New Horizons' Instrurments (NASA)
* NASA – Ralph
* Compares the fields of view of various New Horizons instruments including Ralph channels

* v
* t
* e

New Horizons

* Exploration of Pluto
* List of New Horizons topics
* New Frontiers program

Targets|

| Flybys|

* 132524 APL
* Jupiter
* Pluto
* 486958 Arrokoth

|

Observations|

* Neptune
* 2011 KW48
* 15810 Arawn
* 50000 Quaoar

Rejected|

* 2011 HM102
* 2014 MT69
* 2014 OS393
* 2014 PN70

Spacecraft|

| Instruments|

* Alice
* Long Range Reconnaissance Imager
* PEPSSI
* Ralph
* REX
* Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter
* SWAP

|

Subsystems|

* GPHS-RTG

Personnel|

| Institutions|

* Applied Physics Laboratory
* Ball Aerospace
* Goddard Space Flight Center
* Jet Propulsion Laboratory
* KinetX
* Southwest Research Institute
* Stanford University
* University of Colorado

|

People|

* Frances Bagenal
* Richard Binzel
* Alice Bowman
* Marc Buie
* Lisa Hardaway
* Brian May
* Cathy Olkin
* Daniel Sarokon
* Mark Showalter
* Alan Stern
* Hal Weaver

Logistics|

* Atlas V (launch vehicle)
* Centaur (upper stage)
* Star 48B (3rd stage)
* Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41 (launch site)
* Deep Space Network

Related|

* Hubble Space Telescope
* Kuiper belt
* New Horizons 2
* Pluto Kuiper Express

Category

* v
* t
* e

Science instruments on satellites and spacecraft

Radar|

* Cassini–Huygens
* Magellan
* Paz
* Pioneer Venus Orbiter
* REASON
* SELENE
* SHARAD
* MARSIS
* Venera 4
* 8
* 9
* 10
* 15
* 16
* WISDOM

Radio science|

* Akatsuki
* Cassini–Huygens
* Europa-UVS
* ExoMars lander
* Galileo
* InSight
* Kaguya
* Magellan
* Mariner 2
* 3
* 4
* 5
* 6, 7
* 9
* 10
* Mars Express
* MESSENGER
* Nozomi
* Pioneer 7
* 10
* 11
* Pioneer Venus Orbiter
* Sakigake
* Venus Express
* Venera 9
* Voyager 1
* 2

Radiometer|

| Microwave|

| Near Earth|

* AQUA
* AMR-C (Sentinel-6)
* AMSR-E (AQUA)
* AMSR (ADEOS II)
* AMSR2 (Shizuku)
* DMSP 5D-2/F13-F15
* DMSP 5D-2/F16
* ERSS
* Envisat
* GPM Core
* Kanopus-ST
* MIRAS
* MISR, MOPITT (Terra)
* MSR (MOS-1, MOS-1b)
* MTVZA (Meteor-3M-1)
* MTVZA-GYa
* Meteor-M2
* Meteor-M2-1
* Nimbus 7
* RM-08 and MTVZA-OK (Sich-1M)
* Seasat
* Sentinel-3
* SMAP
* SMMR
* SMOS
* SSM/I
* SSMIS
* TRMM
* WSF-M
* Zond-PP

|

Interplanetary|

* Cassini-Huygens
* Electra (radio)
* Mariner 2
* MWR (Juno)
* Rosetta

Infrared-Visible|

| Near Earth|

* AVHRR
* ASTER, MISR (Terra)
* AIRS
* AVNIR
* AVNIR-2
* CERES (TRMM, Terra, Aura, Suomi NPP, NOAA-20)
* ERBS
* ERSS
* GLI (ADEOS II)
* Kanopus-V-IK
* MESSR and VTIR
* MOS-1
* 1b
* Meteor-2
* MODIS (Terra, Aqua)
* OPS (JERS-1)
* ORI (EURECA)
* Radiation Budget Instrument
* SGLI (GCOM-C)
* SLSTR (Sentinel-3)
* VIIRS (Suomi NPP, JPSS-2)

|

Interplanetary|

* COMARS+ (on Schiaparelli)
* Diviner (on LRO)
* HP3 (on InSight)

* IRIS
* Luna 13
* Mariner 6 and 7
* Mariner 10
* Mars 96
* 2M No.521
* 2M No.522
* Pioneer 10
* 11
* PMIRR (on Mars Climate Orbiter)
* Venera 9
* 10
* Voyager 1
* 2

Ultraviolet (UV)|

| Near Earth|

* ORI (EURECA)
* LYRA
* Proba-2

|

Spectrophotometers|

| Long wavelength|

| Interplanetary|

* ISO

|

Visible-IR (VIRS)|

| Near Earth|

* CASE
* MOMS
* Multispectral Scanner
* SCIAMACHY
* TES
* TRMM

|

Interplanetary|

* AKARI
* Envisat
* Rosalind Franklin rover
* MA-MISS
* ISEM
* Infrared Space Observatory
* IRIS (Voyager 1 and 2)
* JIRAM (on Juno)
* M3
* Mariner 6 and 7
* MASCS
* MERIS
* E-THEMIS, MISE, SUDA (on Europa Clipper)
* Ralph
* SPICAM
* SPICAV

UV-visible (UVVS)|

| Interplanetary|

* Alice
* Mariner 6 and 7
* Mariner 10
* MASCS
* NOMAD
* SPICAM
* SPICAV
* UVS
* Voyager 1
* 2

|

Raman|

| Interplanetary|

* Raman Laser Spectrometer (Rosalind Franklin rover)
* SHERLOC (Mars 2020 rover)

|

Magnetometer|

| Near Earth|

* GOES
* QuakeSat 1 and 2
* SGVM
* Proba-2

|

Interplanetary|

* FIELDS
* Pioneer 10
* 11
* Voyager 1
* 2
* MAG (Juno)
* ICEMAG and PIMS (Europa Clipper)

Triaxial fluxgate|

| Interplanetary|

* Cassini–Huygens
* FIELDS
* Magsat
* Mariner 2
* 4
* 5
* 10
* MESSENGER
* Pioneer 11
* Venus Express

|

Helium vapor|

| Interplanetary|

* Cassini–Huygens

|

Particle
detectors|

| Ion detectors|

| Near Earth|

* DEMETER
* TPMU and DSLP
* Proba-2

|

Interplanetary|

* ASPERA-3
* ASPERA-4
* Mariner 2
* SPS
* Ulysses

Neutral particle detector|

| Interplanetary|

* ADRON-RM (Rosalind Franklin rover)
* ASPERA-3 (on Mars Express)
* ASPERA-4 (on Venus Express)
* DAN (on Curiosity)
* FREND (on ExoMars TGO)
* Nozomi
* SPS (on Mariner 2)
* Ulysses

|

Mass spectrometer|

| Interplanetary|

* MASPEX (Europa Clipper)
* MOMA (Rosalind Franklin rover)

|

Seismometers|

* SEIS (on InSight)
* Viking 1
* 2

Imagers/telescopes|

* High Resolution Stereo Camera
* HiRISE
* LORRI
* Mars Orbiter Camera

Microscopes|

* MicrOmega-IR (Rosalind Franklin rover)

Astronomical
instruments|

* International Lunar Observatory
* MoonLIGHT

Misc|

* Deep Space Atomic Clock
* Inertial Stellar Compass
* Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter
* Plasma Wave Subsystem

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