INDEPENDENT NAVIGATION TEAM CONTRIBUTION TO NEW HORIZONS' PLUTO SYSTEM FLYBY

The New Horizons spacecraft made its closest approach to Pluto on 14 July 2015. The most significant challenge of this mission was that the Pluto system ephemeris was initially known with a precision of 1000 km. This needed to be improved significantly on approach in order to meet the science requirements. During the final six months leading to the flyby, a JPL Independent Navigation (INAV) Team was included in the ephemeris knowledge update process as a cross-check on the Project Navigation (PNAV) Team's results. This paper discusses the INAV team's experiences and challenges navigating New Horizons through the Pluto planetary system encounter.