Multi-fluid MHD study of the solar wind interaction with Pluto

The study of the solar wind interaction with Pluto's upper atmosphere has triggered a great of interest in recent years. The Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument onboard New Horizon (NH) spacecraft has provided a wealth of detailed and quantitative information about Pluto and its interaction with the tenuous solar wind out at 33 AU. The SWAP data reveals Pluto's unique interaction with the solar wind as a hybrid of comet-like and the Venus/Mars-like interactions. While SWAP data has provided many of the key results, a lot of details are still missing merely based on NH flyby observations. In order to further investigate the solar wind-Pluto interaction from a global point of view, we develop a 3-D multi-fluid MHD (MF-MHD) model. The MF-MHD model solves separate continuity, momentum and energy equations for each ion species. We adopt the 1-D modeled neutral atmosphere, which is based on NH observations, as the MF-MHD input. Photoionization, charge exchange and electron impact ionization are all included in the MF-MHD model. We will study the ion escape rate, and Pluto's magnetosphere and heavy ion tail structure. We will also do some data-model comparisons. This work has the potential to improve our understanding of present day Pluto's unique solar wind interaction and thus enhance the science returned from the NH mission.