SHOWTIME FOR PLUTO: Once In A Lifetime NASA Flyby Set For Tuesday 14th July 2015

Tom Hark Preston Park · Jul 13, 2015

Astounding Science!

http://news.yahoo.com/showtime-pluto-prepare-amazed-nasa-flyby-160119696.html

"New Horizons has traveled 3 billion miles over 9½ years to get to this historic point. The fastest spacecraft ever launched, it carries the most powerful suite of science instruments ever sent on a scouting and reconnaissance mission of a new, unfamiliar world.

Guarantees principal scientist Alan Stern, "We're going to knock your socks off."

The size of a baby grand piano, the spacecraft will come closest to Pluto on Tuesday morning — at 7:49 a.m. EDT. That's when New Horizons is predicted to pass within 7,767 miles of Pluto. Fourteen minutes later, the spacecraft will zoom within 17,931 miles of Charon, Pluto's jumbo moon."

:bowdown:

dangull · Jul 13, 2015

Doubt they will find any aliens there.

Seriously, this should be exciting viewing, and there could be some interesting data from the instruments. The voyager probes were a spectacular success in the 70/80s.

Bombadier Botty · Jul 13, 2015

Looking forward to this one.

Superphil · Jul 13, 2015

How long do the images take to send back to Earth?

Igzilla · Jul 13, 2015

I've have been waiting for this moment since 1979, when at middle school I decided that, of all the planets (as it was then), Pluto was the one that I wanted to explore the most. I may not be there in person, but have been keeping tabs on New Horizons over the years since it launched. Amazing engineering, astounding science. The accuracy required to skim just 12k km over the surface, from a distance of several billion km is simply breathtaking, plus the bonus of onward travel beyond Pluto to another Kuiper Belt object and finally on into interstellar space. Very exciting.

Tom Hark Preston Park · Jul 13, 2015

Superphil said:
How long do the images take to send back to Earth?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/150713-pluto-flyby-ten-questions-answered-space/

'How long does it take to send a photo of Pluto to Earth?

Radio signals traveling at the speed of light take 4.5 hours to travel between Pluto and Earth. It will take about 16 months for all of New Horizon’ flyby data to make it to Earth—meaning that new discoveries will be trickling in through the end of 2016.'

severnside gull · Jul 13, 2015

Genuinely excited.......

........ But can we be sure that it isn't just fake footage shot in a hanger somewhere in the Arizona desert?

Tom Hark Preston Park · Jul 14, 2015

From the BBC website:

Key Points

- Nasa spacecraft New Horizons approaching Pluto at 14 km/s
- Latest results show Pluto is shedding its atmosphere faster than expected; it is also slightly bigger than previously calculated
- "Closest approach" scheduled for 12:50 BST on Tuesday
- First "phone home" communication after flyby is expected by 02:00 BST on Wednesday
- No confirmed sighting yet of Ulloa penalty

Bladders · Jul 14, 2015

Tom Hark said:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/150713-pluto-flyby-ten-questions-answered-space/

'How long does it take to send a photo of Pluto to Earth?

Radio signals traveling at the speed of light take 4.5 hours to travel between Pluto and Earth. It will take about 16 months for all of New Horizon’ flyby data to make it to Earth—meaning that new discoveries will be trickling in through the end of 2016.'

I'll come back then

Westdene Seagull · Jul 14, 2015

Superphil said:
How long do the images take to send back to Earth?

How does it get them back would be my question after that. After all, it's BILLIONS of miles away - how do you get a radio signal to stretch that far and what stops it sending the signal in the wrong direction. Hell, I can't even get a mobile phone signal in parts of Brighton.

Worried Man Blues · Jul 14, 2015

Pluto isn't a planet anymore is it? or was I dreaming.

TWOCHOICEStom · Jul 14, 2015

Westdene Seagull said:
How does it get them back would be my question after that. After all, it's BILLIONS of miles away - how do you get a radio signal to stretch that far and what stops it sending the signal in the wrong direction. Hell, I can't even get a mobile phone signal in parts of Brighton.

Here's a great site which explains the technology on the probe.

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/Spacecraft/Systems-and-Components.php

Guidance and Control
New Horizons must be oriented precisely to collect data with its scientific instruments, communicate with Earth, or maneuver through space.

Attitude determination – knowing which direction New Horizons is facing – is performed using star-tracking cameras, Inertial Measurement Units (containing sophisticated gyroscopes and accelerometers that measure rotation and horizontal/vertical motion), and digital Sun sensors. Attitude control for the spacecraft – whether in a steady, three-axis pointing mode or in a spin-stabilized mode – is accomplished using thrusters.

Bold Seagull · Jul 14, 2015

Worried Man Blues said:
Pluto isn't a planet anymore is it? or was I dreaming.

It was declassified 7 months after this probe was launched in Jan 2006. An obvious annoyance.

Pluto takes 248 years to orbit the sun. Since it's discovery in 1930, it is only a third of the way round.

Barham's tash · Jul 14, 2015

I love the fact that these probes can never be cutting edge which means a certain demographic of the populace will look at the less than HD quality imagery and shrug "is that it" but to anyone with a vague interest in what's out there will literally be creaming themselves repeatedly as each new image comes back!

Well done Space Boffins.

Goldstone1976 · Jul 14, 2015

Barham's tash said:
I love the fact that these probes can never be cutting edge which means a certain demographic of the populace will look at the less than HD quality imagery and shrug "is that it" but to anyone with a vague interest in what's out there will literally be creaming themselves repeatedly as each new image comes back!

Well done Space Boffins.

Space Boffins - fastest recovery times known to man.

desprateseagull · Jul 14, 2015

I hope they took the lens cap off..

The Wizard · Jul 14, 2015

Tom Hark said:
From the BBC website:

Key Points

- Nasa spacecraft New Horizons approaching Pluto at 14 km/s
- Latest results show Pluto is shedding its atmosphere faster than expected; it is also slightly bigger than previously calculated
- "Closest approach" scheduled for 12:50 BST on Tuesday
- First "phone home" communication after flyby is expected by 02:00 BST on Wednesday
- No confirmed sighting yet of Ulloa penalty

Triggaaar · Jul 14, 2015

Bold Seagull said:
Pluto takes 248 years to orbit the sun.

Surely, by definition, it takes one year

Papa Lazarou · Jul 14, 2015

Triggaaar said:
Surely, by definition, it takes one year

One Plutonian year.

Triggaaar · Jul 14, 2015

Papa Lazarou said:
One Plutonian year.

That's what I said, a year. Obviously not an earth year, but then we're not talking about earth are we

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SHOWTIME FOR PLUTO: Once In A Lifetime NASA Flyby Set For Tuesday 14th July 2015

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