New Horizons:  NASA Watch reported yesterday that the multi-purpose camera/spectrometer under construction for the New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond “is now a number of months late and has significant cost problems,” and that an effort by the mission to take development away from Ball Aerospace is “reportedly” being thwarted by the company. See January news about this instrument, which is called “Ralph.”

Crater news:  NASA's Astrobiology Magazine has an article today about the possibility that there was more than one major impact during the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction period 65 million years ago, citing specifically the Ukranian Boltysh impact structure (see a Sky & Telescope 13 September 2002 article). Not mentioned is the North Sea Silverpit structure (see National Geographic 31 July 2002 and U.K. Geological Society 1 August 2002 reports), which has dating estimated closer to the K/T boundary than Boltysh, but its identification as an

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• News briefs – New Horizons & crater news
• Risk monitoring – NEODyS has pulled 2004 UE

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impact structure was questioned earlier this year (UKGS 19 March 2004 report).

Risk monitoring 20 Oct.

The Wednesday Daily Orbit Update MPEC has observation of 2004 UE from yesterday morning from LINEAR in New Mexico. Today NEODyS removed its two impact solutions, while JPL slightly lowered its overall risk assessment for this object.