New Horizons Pluto Mission update thread

[micropage7]

An old MIPS chip. I guess it's simplicity is what makes it so easy to harden for the radiation of space. Makes sense but still kinda lulzy that it can't even run two things at once.

i think its better for avoiding any failure although it would take longer time since it runs one by one

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

What will Pluto mission discover?

here is a really good piece just released by the BBC, it doesnt take long to read
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33428497

 

[rtwjunkie]

The funny thing is, those of us nerdy enough to be following this will be siting with baited breath on July 16th, but it will be November of NEXT year before the last of the data from the flyby is transmitted, and even longer until NASA release alot of it.

I bet it's weeks before we even get a decent closeup pic.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

With just a few watts of power in its transmitter - and billions of kilometres of space to traverse, the signal can only carry one kilobit of information per second.


NASA will keep us happy. , they release stuff quickly , its ESA that always keeps us waiting.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Pluto in a minute,

excellent mini vids from NASA
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiuUQ9asub3RUlLBXMFGq8aFEPS5yONT2

Nice little fact.........after travelling 3 billion miles, New Horizons is aiming for a "box in space" that measures just 60 miles by 90 miles


todays live briefing
http://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html

 

[Ikaruga]

New pic just in Can't wait for the big pictures on 16th and 20th (edit: apparently this was a black and white picture, so the colors are applied from the last (lower res) image, but still it's awesome we are getting closer finally)

I bet it's weeks before we even get a decent closeup pic.

 

[rtwjunkie]

@Ikaruga great pic! However, my statement was taken out of context. I was referring to the really close 3,000 mile pics. Tons of those will be taken, and the data transmission is so slow, that they said it will be 16 months after the flyby before we have all pictures and data, and then will still mostly just be raw pictures for awhile too. So anything we do see will be very small numbers until then.

 

[Ikaruga]

@Ikaruga great pic! However, my statement was taken out of context. I was referring to the really close 3,000 mile pics. Tons of those will be taken, and the data transmission is so slow, that they said it will be 16 months after the flyby before we have all pictures and data, and then will still mostly just be raw pictures for awhile too. So anything we do see will be very small numbers until then.

Yes, - as the picture states - after 20th of July, no further data from LORRI will be returned until September 14, when we will start getting the entire captured set, but I think we will have quite nice images on 20-21th, and they will even get better a few days later when scientist will enhance them with post-processing. This blog from Emily Lakdawalla details it very well: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/06240556-what-to-expect-new-horizons-pluto.html

The tricky part here is that New Horizon travels very fast,13.8 km/s (49,680km/h; 30,870mph) (4 km/s (14,000 km/h; 9,000 mph), and the team gets only one try to rotate the camera from forward to backward and take the "big picture" when the space craft will be at the closest ("above" Pluto). This is actually a very big challenge, my fingers are crossed, but there will be a big single photo before that day, and they will send that photo to us:

LORRI Pluto at 3.8 kilometers per pixel (~630 pixels across disk). Taken 2015-07-13 20:17:28. Range 768,000 km. - The best single-frame photo of Pluto that will be available during encounter period

edit: fixed stupid velocity values (bad copy-paste mistake), thanks revin for the heads-up.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

A NASA animation following the New Horizons spacecraft from its launch in 2006 to the planned flypast of Pluto and its moon

Pluto and Charon

 

[Ikaruga]

A NASA animation following the New Horizons spacecraft from its launch in 2006 to the planned flypast of Pluto and its moon

I love it how it jumps to warp at the end

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

@rtwjunkie

there is 15 years worth of fuel left on board......we are off to the Oort Cloud

 

[rtwjunkie]

@rtwjunkie

there is 15 years worth of fuel left on board......we are off to the Oort Cloud

Have you read how many years it will take just to get to the inner perimeter? It's futile, LOL!

EDIT: According to this chart, and explanation, Voyager 1, which has quite a head start, will take 300 years to reach the inner perimeter! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PIA17046_-_Voyager_1_Goes_Interstellar.jpg

Future exploration[edit]
Space probes have yet to reach the area of the Oort cloud. Voyager 1, the fastest[53] and farthest[54][55] of the interplanetary space probes currently exiting the Solar System, will reach the Oort cloud in about 300 years[4][56] and would take about 30,000 years to pass through it.[57][58] However, around 2025, Voyager 1's radioisotope thermoelectric generators will no longer supply enough power to operate any of its scientific instruments, preventing any meaningful exploration by Voyager 1. The other four probes currently escaping the Solar System will also be non-functional when they reach the Oort cloud.
One proposal for exploration is to use a craft powered by a solar sail that would take around 30 years to reach its destination.[59

SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

It's futile, LOL!

 

[dorsetknob]

Have you read how many years it will take just to get to the inner perimeter? It's futile, LOL!

that Sir is an example of the thinking of that peasant seaman crew of the Nina pinto and the santa maria
god knows how Columbus "" found the new World ""
Oh i Know they Sailed off the edge of Flat world onto page 2

 

[rtwjunkie]

that Sir is an example of the thinking of that peasant seaman crew of the Nina pinto and the santa maria
god knows how Columbus "" found the new World ""
Oh i Know they Sailed off the edge of Flat world onto page 2

The problem is the fuel supply running out before it ever reaches the inner perimeter in 300 years. If they can send out a probe with a solar sail, which is still just conjecture and theory, then it would arrive in 30 years, with fuel.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

god knows how Columbus "" found the new World "

i know how Columbus found the New World, he used a map the Chinese made.


Epigraph researcher John Ruskamp claims these symbols shown in the enhanced image above, found etched into rock at the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are evidence that ancient Chinese explorers discovered America long before Christopher Columbus stumbled on the continent in 1492

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...e-Asians-lived-New-World-3-300-years-ago.html


This is a really good documentary.....the book is even better.

 

[dorsetknob]

What

i know how Columbus found the New World, he used a map the Chinese made.

No mention of St Brendon the paddyMonk or Owen the The coracle sailor from the Vally's or the vikings in Vinland

 

[Ikaruga]

The problem is the fuel supply running out before it ever reaches the inner perimeter in 300 years. If they can send out a probe with a solar sail, which is still just conjecture and theory, then it would arrive in 30 years, with fuel.

Kuiper belt fly-through will be also exciting. They said they will adjusting the trajectory towards objects of interests. After Pluto, it will have enough power to run its systems for a about decade, so there is a lot to come. (fun fact: they did not have much Plutonium available at the time they assembled the probe, so - while it's much more efficient (because it's newer) - New Horizons actually has a slower data rate than Voyager :-/ )

 

[R-T-B]

that Sir is an example of the thinking of that peasant seaman crew of the Nina pinto and the santa maria
god knows how Columbus "" found the new World ""
Oh i Know they Sailed off the edge of Flat world onto page 2

Only Columbus didn't discover the new world, Vikings were there well before him... Oh well, another topic.

 

[dorsetknob]

Only Columbus didn't discover the new world, Vikings were there well before him... Oh well, another topic.

Ahm um speculatively covered in post #42

No mention of St Brendon the paddyMonk or Owen the The coracle sailor from the Vally's or the vikings in Vinland

 

[R-T-B]

Ahm um speculatively covered in post #42

Yeah, saw that later. Somehow I missed that, but was too lazy to delete my post after noticing it.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Kuiper belt fly-through will be also exciting. They said they will adjusting the trajectory towards objects of interests. After Pluto, it will have enough power to run its systems for a about decade, so there is a lot to come. (fun fact: they did not have much Plutonium available at the time they assembled the probe, so - while it's much more efficient (because it's newer) - New Horizons actually has a slower data rate than Voyager :-/ )

Yep, a decade of fuel will allow some exploration of the Kuiper belt, but leave it hundreds of years from the Oort Cloud.

We can always hope that one day we find an ability to fuel something long enough to reach it.

 

[revin]

New Horizon travels very fast, 4 km/s (14,000 km/h; 9,000 mph),

Just to clarify, that was the speed Boost it got from Jupiter, 58,536 km/h (36,373 mph), is about the speed it is traveling aproaching
Planet Pluto..............by damn there was 9 planet's for 50 years when I grew up, and there still is !!!!
Oh how I remeber being glued to the TV in the late 60's/70's watching Gemini & Apollo's !!!!
Indeed it's just as exciting now !! and love that Pluto actually has a mini cosmo system of it's own !!!

 

[dorsetknob]

Indeed it's just as exciting now !! and love that Pluto actually has a mini cosmo system of it's own !!!

And that in my Opinion makes it as much a PLANET as Saturn or Jupiter

 

[R-T-B]

And that in my Opinion makes it as much a PLANET as Saturn or Jupiter

It's orbit is still pretty funky though...