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CJ Cregg
Commodore
Joined: 05 Oct 2002
Posts: 1254
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 Thu Jan 19, 2006 6:30 pm Pluto probe launches from Florida |
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| Quote: | Pluto probe launches from Florida
The US space agency, Nasa, has successfully launched its New Horizons mission to Pluto.
The probe lifted off at 1900 GMT aboard an Atlas 5 rocket on a 10-year journey to the planet, more than three billion miles (five billion km) from Earth.
The $700m probe will gather information on Pluto and its moons before - it is hoped - pressing on to explore other objects in the outer Solar System.
Pluto is the only remaining planet that has never been visited by a spacecraft.
The spacecraft was launched after being postponed for two consecutive days due to bad weather and technical difficulties.
On Tuesday, controllers stood down the flight due to high winds at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station pad in Florida.
Then a power failure at the Maryland laboratory managing the mission forced that launch attempt to be halted.
Slingshot manoeuvre
Sending up the probe before 3 February means it will be in position to swing by Jupiter on its way to Pluto.
New Horizons will use Jupiter's gravity to pick up speed in a slingshot manoeuvre.
This will increase the probe's speed away from the Sun by nearly 4km/s, allowing the spacecraft to reach the ninth planet by July 2015.
If the launch had been pushed beyond the 3 February, the probe would have been required to take a direct route to Pluto, arriving in 2018 at the earliest.
Some astronomers say Pluto is not a true planet at all, and should be classed instead alongside the small, icy objects which make up the region of space known as the Kuiper Belt.
This region, which lies beyond Neptune, consists of perhaps tens of thousands of icy objects spread out between 30 and 50 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
Double planet
Pluto is thought by some to form a "double planet" with its companion Charon.
New Horizons will fly by Pluto and Charon on the same day. The spacecraft's seven instruments will carry out detailed mapping of Pluto's surface features, composition and atmosphere.
"The probe will map the composition of materials on the surface of Pluto [and Charon], which will help tell us what molecules were present during the formation of this system," Dr Stephen Lowry of Queen's University in Belfast, UK, told the BBC News website.
After the Pluto encounter, it is up to Nasa to decide whether to grant the spacecraft an extended mission. Should this happen, mission scientists plan to send New Horizons to visit two Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) with diameters of 50km (30 miles) or more.
Scientists believe they can learn about the evolution of the Solar System by studying the Kuiper Belt since it possesses debris left over form its formation. |
Yay! Well Done NASA. Its about time we had a closer look at our distant planet.
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webtaz99
Commodore
Joined: 13 Nov 2003
Posts: 1229
Location: The Other Side
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| Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:00 pm |
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WooHoo! Too bad it takes 10 years...
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"History is made at night! Character is who you are in the dark." (Lord John Whorfin)
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Link, the Hero of Time
Vice Admiral
Joined: 15 Sep 2001
Posts: 5581
Location: Kokori Forest, Hyrule
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| Thu Jan 19, 2006 11:18 pm |
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But it will give us a better understanding of the universe we live in.
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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| Thu Jan 19, 2006 11:23 pm |
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^Agreed.
I think this is awesome! 
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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PrankishSmart
Rear Admiral
Joined: 29 Apr 2002
Posts: 4779
Location: Hobart, Australia.
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| Fri Jan 20, 2006 2:10 am |
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Yeah I have been keeping an eye on this one from the planning stages and it looks pretty damn intresting, and the probe itself is a very impressive piece of equipment.
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webtaz99
Commodore
Joined: 13 Nov 2003
Posts: 1229
Location: The Other Side
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| Fri Jan 20, 2006 11:33 am |
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It is possible that we might create a plasma rocket powered probe, which could overtake the current one and beat it to Pluto.
Also, I wish NASA and the other space orgs from other coutries could get together and build some high-bandwidth relay probes and put them in orbit around the outer planets, so that we could study them more closely.
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"History is made at night! Character is who you are in the dark." (Lord John Whorfin)
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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| Fri Jan 20, 2006 5:51 pm |
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I agree. I also think that they should (NASA and other world space orgs) work on constructing a space station that's not your average one, but more of a place for tourism in space.
I also would like to see us churn out full-fledged Starships, if ever possible.
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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borgslayer
Rear Admiral
Joined: 27 Aug 2003
Posts: 2646
Location: Las Vegas
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| Fri Jan 20, 2006 8:29 pm |
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Many interesting discoveries will be found in a round block of ice.
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PrankishSmart
Rear Admiral
Joined: 29 Apr 2002
Posts: 4779
Location: Hobart, Australia.
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| Fri Jan 20, 2006 8:47 pm |
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| webtaz99 wrote: | It is possible that we might create a plasma rocket powered probe, which could overtake the current one and beat it to Pluto.
Also, I wish NASA and the other space orgs from other coutries could get together and build some high-bandwidth relay probes and put them in orbit around the outer planets, so that we could study them more closely. |
The only problem with that is the probe will be going a lot faster. As it is the probe will be conducting most of the studies of pluto on the day it passes and will not be able to slow down to take an extended look. The faster you make a probe go, the less time you have to study the planet if you wizz by very fast, well, unless you take propellant to slow down as you approach the planet.
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Birdy
Socialist
Joined: 20 Sep 2004
Posts: 13502
Location: Here.
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| Sat Jan 21, 2006 4:51 am |
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Yeah!!! this is sooooooo cool!!! I can't wait till they have the results, in 10 years. I'm so excited!! Space sooooooo rocks, 
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Nosce te ipsum
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PrankishSmart
Rear Admiral
Joined: 29 Apr 2002
Posts: 4779
Location: Hobart, Australia.
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| Sat Jan 21, 2006 6:22 am |
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Yeah it will be terrific just to get to see what it and it's moon looks like and if it really is a frozen rocky world with an atmosphere. I think it will be one of the biggest discoveries this century.
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Admiral Dani�l
Dutch Admiral
Joined: 06 Sep 2005
Posts: 2177
Location: Borg Cube 31572 - Join us now!
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| Sat Jan 21, 2006 6:33 am |
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Well over 10 years I still will stand here and look at the news of the probe arriving
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webtaz99
Commodore
Joined: 13 Nov 2003
Posts: 1229
Location: The Other Side
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| Sat Jan 21, 2006 11:36 pm |
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| PrankishSmart wrote: | | webtaz99 wrote: | It is possible that we might create a plasma rocket powered probe, which could overtake the current one and beat it to Pluto.
Also, I wish NASA and the other space orgs from other coutries could get together and build some high-bandwidth relay probes and put them in orbit around the outer planets, so that we could study them more closely. |
The only problem with that is the probe will be going a lot faster. As it is the probe will be conducting most of the studies of pluto on the day it passes and will not be able to slow down to take an extended look. The faster you make a probe go, the less time you have to study the planet if you wizz by very fast, well, unless you take propellant to slow down as you approach the planet. |
The specific impulse of a plasma rocket means that the probe could brake into an orbit when it got to Pluto, as could any others sent to the outer planets.
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"History is made at night! Character is who you are in the dark." (Lord John Whorfin)
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