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New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

558 points by nns 11y ago

huuu 11y ago
It seems Pluto has much less craters than our moon. Is this because our moon is much closer to a heavy body which attracts all kinds of objects? Anyway: wow! The quality of this preview is already amazing. Waiting for the high res version :)
- cgriswald 11y ago
  I think the main reason is that Pluto has an active atmosphere; it snows. Plutos icy surface may be somewhat active as well, so craters may disappear over time in a way that the craters on the moon cannot. However, there may be other factors: 1. As you note, the mass of the Earth-Moon system is much greater than the mass of the Pluto-Charon system. 2. In the Earth-Moon system, the moon is the outer protector. In the Pluto system, there are five smaller protectors and Pluto is the protected. 3. The inner solar system is a small, dense region closer to the gravity of the sun and gas giants. Objects thrown in our direction are likely to stick around. In contrast, the Kuiper Belt isn't very dense and objects thrown in that direction not only have more places to go, but may be on their way out of the solar system or into extended hyperbolic orbits. 3. KBOs aren't very dense, so even impacts which occur may not create massive craters.
adventured 11y ago
A larger image was just posted to the New Horizons Twitter account. Image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJ32XAEVAAAp_8T.png:large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJ32XAEVAAAp_8T.png:large Tweet: https://twitter.com/NASANewHorizons/status/620923200621412352 https://twitter.com/NASANewHorizons/status/62092320062141235...
- smackfu 11y ago
  I bet the scientists just hate that this stuff is shared on Twitter. They made a big deal that this was transmitted from New Horizons as a compressed image (to transmit it quickly) and then it gets mauled by Twitter's recompression too.
  - natep 11y ago
    It's not like these copies replace the higher-res ones. Not a project scientist, but I'd rather as many people as possible see some image than only a few see only any at all.
    - smackfu 11y ago
      The problem is when people zoom in and "see" things in the JPEG compression artifacts. Also when they release the pic on Twitter in crappy form before they release it in uncompressed form.
      - mixmastamyk 11y ago
        It says png on the file and headers.
        smackfu 11y ago
        Ah, it does! They did the original "sneak peak" on Instagram and this was the file: https://igcdn-photos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t51.2885-15/11311925_687877714680167_484233801_n.jpg https://igcdn-photos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t51.28... I hear so many complaints about Twitter recompressing pics I figured that would happen here.
dingaling 11y ago
That flag-waving and chanting of U-S-A U-S-A at the point of closest approach was one of the most appalling, jingoistic, alienating spectacles I've ever seen. You'd think they had just planted the flag in the soil ( ice? ) and claimed Pluto for God and America. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Space Race is over. Grow up. You're doing this for all humanity.
- smackay 11y ago
  "This necessitated aiming New Horizons at a "keyhole" in space just 100km by 150km (60miles by 90 miles), and arriving at that location within a set margin of 100 seconds." That's pretty damned impressive by any standard you care to mention so go ahead, "U-S-A" yourselves a few more times. I think it was earned.
  - sabertoothed 11y ago
    You do not seem to have understood his / her remark. He / she was not trying to diminish the remarkable achievement nor questioning the celebration of this success. But the jingoistic way it was celebrated. EDIT: Why do I get downvoted? I was merely explaining OP's point of view.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - bullsbarry 11y ago
      Yes. We must make sure to reserve such celebrations for truly important things. Like the World Cup and Olympics.
      - nothrabannosir 11y ago
        Assuming you're being sarcastic; those are actual competitions between nations, by design. His entire point was that this is not a competition. Obviously, if it were, America would be winning. That's not being contested; the problem is not that the US won, the problem is that by continuing to beat the rest of the world over the head with it they are alienating a large chunk of the world. The Art Of War, and all that.
StealthMountain 11y ago
Is there a mountain hiding on Pluto?
struct 11y ago
I remember reading about Pluto in dozens of space books when I was a child, all filled with beautiful images sent from Voyager I and II, I'm so excited that we can finally add Pluto to that roster Also, it's so incredible that the New Horizon's team has managed to get to something so small and far away!
- digi_owl 11y ago
  That is a moving target no less.
lmm 11y ago
> Nix is estimated to be about 35km across, and Hydra about 45km in diameter. Kerberos and Hydra are a lot smaller Is one of those Hydras supposed to be something else?
- xyclos 11y ago
  Probably. Styx is the other one.
  - acheron 11y ago
    I'm still disappointed none of them were named "Acheron".
burkek 11y ago
This is incredible. Note that this is also a true representation of Pluto's colours by merging a high resolution greyscale picture taken by the #1 camera "Lorri" and a second (lower resolution) colour picture from the #2 camera "Ralph".
gesman 11y ago
Super achievement. Imagine writing a piece of code see the test results only 9.5 years after !
- ben174 11y ago
  And I thought testing in CI was slow.
digital-rubber 11y ago
They could not put it in pluto orbit? They need to practice a bit more with Kerbal space program.
chasing 11y ago
This is awesome. Congratulations to everyone who pulled this off (and fingers crossed that the data gets back successfully). Everyone has earned the right to chant the name of whatever country they feel like.
- yellowapple 11y ago
  Sealand! Sealand! Sealand!
fit2rule 11y ago
I'm more than a little disappointed that we haven't got gleaming alien cities in the viewfinder this time, but I guess there's still a chance that Ceres is going to give humanity the boost it needs. :)
Arjuna 11y ago
In honor of Clyde William Tombaugh [1], the astronomer who discovered Pluto, a canister [2] containing his ashes is on-board the New Horizons space probe. It reads: "Interned herein are remains of American Clyde W. Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto and the Solar System's 'Third Zone.' Adelle and Muron's boy, Patricia's husband, Annette and Alden's father, astronomer, teacher, punster, and friend: Clyde W. Tombaugh (1906 - 1997)." A fitting tribute. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh [2] http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2015_28/1109391/150706-ashes_7dd0a2249a8eb96eedd34f0c5687f931.nbcnews-fp-360-360.jpg http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2015_28/1109391/150706...
- gambiting 11y ago
  It's interesting that by sending his remains on that probe we basically guaranteed that at least some human remains will survive millions of years in interstellar space, unless of course, New Horizons collides with something(which I guess it will, given enough time?).
  - drzaiusapelord 11y ago
    It would be fitting I think if aliens found his ashes considering he's was something of an ET evangelist and eventually claimed some of his mysterious sightings (green fireballs and glowing rectangles moving in unnatural ways) were probably of ET origin and its unscientific to dismiss this out of hand. Wiki: Although our own solar system is believed to support no other life than on Earth, other stars in the galaxy may have hundreds of thousands of habitable worlds. Races on these worlds may have been able to utilize the tremendous amounts of power required to bridge the space between the stars..." Tombaugh stated that he had observed celestial phenomena which he could not explain, but had seen none personally since 1951 or 1952. "These things, which do appear to be directed, are unlike any other phenomena I ever observed. Their apparent lack of obedience to the ordinary laws of celestial motion gives credence." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh#Interest_in_UFOs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh#Interest_in_UFO...
    - 11y ago
stygiansonic 11y ago
As a child, I loved reading about space and astronomy. I think I pretty much read every book about these topics my local town's library. (It wasn't a large {town, library}) Isaac Asimov's non-fiction books were among my favourites. I never imagined that now we'd be getting the level of detail seen in these photos of Pluto (level of detail akin to a Moon shot), which until now, only existed in my mind from various artistic impressions. I can only imagine how the folks on the New Horizons team feel after seeing the results of their work after so much time and effort.
- rootbear 11y ago
  Amen. I work at NASA and I'm gobsmacked at the beauty of the New Horizons imagery. I can't wait to see the good stuff. Isaac Asimov's science essay collections had a profound effect on me. I learned physics years ahead of when I would have in school by reading these essays and learning how to do calculations involving kinetic energy, mass, acceleration, etc. Even more important, those essays helped me learn how to think like a scientist. Asimov's secular humanist world view also influenced my own world view greatly. I met him several times at various SF conventions and I miss him.
  - abecedarius 11y ago
    Not just essays; he wrote something like a real physics textbook at high-school level, which I learned from as a teenager. (Not in school, of course. IIRC it was more illuminating than my actual high-school physics text.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Physics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Physics
lmorris84 11y ago
Does anyone know how they colour correct these images? I'm guessing there isn't a robotic arm holding up a test card in front of the camera :-)
- saboot 11y ago
  Briefly reading online the main imaging instrument on board, the RALPH camera, includes a visible light CCD with color channels.
- nitrogen 11y ago
  Interestingly enough, I think that's exactly how the Curiosity rover calibrates its camera, though it's the camera on the robotic arm looking at a fixed test pattern.
- andyjohnson0 11y ago
  Check out [1]. Seems to be a combination of pre-flight calibration tests and in-flight observation of stars and planets with known optical characteristics. [1] http://www.responsivespace.com/Papers/RS7/SESSIONS/Session%20III/3003_Bauer/3003P.pdf http://www.responsivespace.com/Papers/RS7/SESSIONS/Session%2...
- arc_of_descent 11y ago
  Does it really matter? I remember reading about this in one of Richard Dawkins' book (I think its Unweaving the rainbow). Now you can complain about the Crab Nebula, whether its color correction, or you are lucky enough to view it up close with a naked eye. The colors you observe are just models of the different frequencies which our brain has evolved into to label as "red", "violet", or "#782". :) A much less/more evolved brain (be it alien or terrestrial) will observer it much differently. Sorry to bring biology into this :)
  - arc_of_descent 11y ago
    Ridiculous downvoting. Check outworlder's post for the xkcd link, you petty graphic artists!
- 11y ago
andyjohnson0 11y ago
There's a detailed and informative article about the design of the New Horizons probe on the British Interplanetary Society site at [1]. An even more detailed description of the science payload can be found at [2]. [1] http://www.bis-space.com/2015/07/13/14875/inside-new-horizons http://www.bis-space.com/2015/07/13/14875/inside-new-horizon... [2] http://www.boulder.swri.edu/pkb/ssr/ssr-payload-overview.pdf http://www.boulder.swri.edu/pkb/ssr/ssr-payload-overview.pdf
- andor436 11y ago
  For the Twitter-inclined follow Emily Lakdawalla [1] - she is usually mere seconds behind the actual data, which is pretty amazing. [1] https://twitter.com/elakdawalla https://twitter.com/elakdawalla
mattlutze 11y ago
"Jingoism: the feelings and beliefs of people who think that their country is always right and who are in favor of aggressive acts against other countries." [1] Can we please stop comparing a success chant with "aggressive acts against other countries"? Unnecessary nationalism, sure. Jingoism is hyperbole. 1: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jingoism http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jingoism
- bargl 11y ago
  Your comment confused the heck out of me. Can you clarify a little more? Did I miss something in the article?
  - Mahn 11y ago
    Context: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884196
  - mattlutze 11y ago
    Sorry, this was meant as a reply to a different thread. Context was: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884930 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884930 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884324 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884324
blakecaldwell 11y ago
It kills me we're not gonna orbit Pluto.
- esusatyo 11y ago
  It actually makes me hopeful that New Horizons will have a chance to look further on things in the Kuiper Belt. It's a very interesting area that doesn't get much attention.
  - iolothebard 11y ago
    I was upset about not orbiting Pluto initially but the objects they've identified in the Kuiper Belt are dissimilar so that information will be just as valuable IMO. We just need to start setting up bases! ALL YOUR PLUTO BELONG TO US!!!
- rootbear 11y ago
  In the press conference, the PI was asked about a future mission. He said that he has thought about orbiters and landers and considers the Pluto system to be a valuable science target. But he said that we need to study the New Horizons data for some years, to better design the next mission. At this time, they wouldn't know what the best instruments to send would be. Also, it is far from clear how to send a mission to Pluto that takes a reasonable amount of time to get there (9 years, in the case of New Horizons) but can also stop when it gets there. Cassini took almost seven years to reach Saturn and the orbital insertion burn was something like ninety minutes! I'm not sure how fast it was going at the time, compared to New Horizons at Pluto, but the point is, if you want to get there quickly, you go fast, but then it's hard to stop.
  - smackfu 11y ago
    > At this time, they wouldn't know what the best instruments to send would be. There's an interesting BBC documentary series on the planets, called The Planets, that has an episode covering the Voyager probes. They had to do some quick redesigns on them after Pioneer 10 and 11 visited the outer planets and found fun stuff like radiation and unexpected rings. They said that if they hadn't had the earlier probes, Voyager would have been fried when it got to the system.
kartikkumar 11y ago
Quote from a friend of mine on the team: "After 9.5 years and 6 billion km, we made it to Pluto 72 seconds ahead of schedule." Amazing! The views of Pluto and Charon already reveal how incredibly fascinating this system is. The dichotomy of their surface colours will most definitely lead to further insight into formation processes in the Kuiper Belt. Just such a shame that we can't land this time around. With the volume of discoveries generated by MESSENGER and Cassini, and the wealth of knowledge that New Horizons is going to generate, it's such a shame that my favourite planet, Uranus, is likely not going to be visited in my lifetime. I spent my PhD studying the mysterious outer ring system of Uranus, and I'm 100% positive that a close-up view of the entire system would blow our minds. Somebody who solves/disrupts science communication deserves a Nobel Prize. EDIT: Fixed typos
- japhyr 11y ago
  I love HN for things like this - personal accounts of people associated with groundbreaking projects. Thanks for sharing. Most of your post is about visiting planets and exploring the solar system, but you close witha comment about disrupting science communication. What aspects of science communication are you referring to?
  - SoulMan 11y ago
    Not sure but I think he was talking about the fact that NASA had to close the communication with the satellite so that it can get busy with clicking and doing science with Pluto during the flyby
  - kartikkumar 11y ago
    I realise that I made an unexplained logical leap to get to the last comment. Basically, based on my professional experience as a planetary scientist, it's my belief that the reason we don't have more satellites cruising through the Solar System is that we (and I mean scientists, engineers, administrators etc.) continue to fail in communicating their true value to the average person on the street. I think that media like Twitter, Instagram, blogs etc. have definitely helped raise the profile of interplanetary exploration, but I'm still waiting for the genius that comes up with the trump card that will enable science communication to become at least 10x more effective. The fact that missions like Cassini, Kepler etc. have to fight to keep the lights on is IMHO testament to the fact that we've failed in communicating their value to society. I try to post stuff on my blog [1] to engage people in the wonders of space science and exploration: it doesn't feel effective though. Someone that figures out how to fully convey the value of missions like New Horizons to the public deserves a serious pat on the back. [1] http://www.kartikkumar.com http://www.kartikkumar.com
pavel_lishin 11y ago
Is the clip at the top just audio with a black screen? That seems like the least useful thing; I'd wager that any blind visitors have screen readers.
e0m 11y ago
Traveling at 16km/s for 9.5 years would dilate time by almost 300 minutes! Not only is there a 4.5 hr delay because of the speed of light, there's an extra 300 min of relativity correction.
- rootbear 11y ago
  Whoa! I hadn't thought about that. The speed of New Horizons hasn't been constant, of course, but the accumulated time difference is probably close to what you calculated. There would also be a correction due to it being farther out of the Sun's gravity well, but that's a much trickery calculation.
  - ars 11y ago
    (Just a note: His math is off.) You also have to account for the dilation caused by the force of launch itself. But then you have to subtract the dilation of Earth. > There would also be a correction due to it being farther out of the Sun's gravity well Because it is in free-fall relative to the Sun there is no Solar gravitational dilation.
- devb 11y ago
  But the transmission time delay is still only 4.5 hours, not 9.5. The onboard clock has simply drifted out of sync with one on Earth.
- agildehaus 11y ago
  It's been a while since I took a physics course, but: t' = t * (1-v^2/c^2)^(1/2) t' = 9.5 * (1-16000^2/299792458^2)^(1/2) t' = 9.5 * 0.99999999857... (t-t') years = 426.7 milliseconds
- Trombone12 11y ago
  Ok lets see if we can get this to match. I get the gamma factor to be gam = 0.9999999985758079 with this, earth sees any time interval on new horizons t' to be \detla t' = \delta t / gam longer than the time t on earth. Integrating both sides above over time, keeping velocity constant, we get t' = t/ gam = 9.5 yr / 0.9999999985758079 = 9.500000013529824 yr this gives an difference between our observed "new horizons time" and out local time of t' - t = t/gam - t = (1/gam - 1) t = 0.4 s we disagree by about a factor of 45000.
ringshall 11y ago
Interesting note, as of today, the US is the first country to have successful spacecraft missions visit all of the classical planets. There is one big exception, of course: the Soviet Union was the first to have a spacecraft visit Earth, with Spunink. This category is completely arbitrary, especially given that Pluto is now considered a minor planet. Still, it's an achievement of note. Mercury - 1974, Mariner 10 Venus --- 1962, Mariner 2 Earth --- 1957, Sputnik 1 Mars* --- 1965, Mariner 4 Jupiter - 1973, Pioneer 10 Saturn -- 1979, Pioneer 11 Uranus -- 1986, Voyager 2 Neptune - 1989, Voyager 2 Pluto --- 2015, New Horizons * The Soviet Union launched several probes to Mars before the US did, but those probes failed. This may be true of other planets as well. edit: formatting
- kohanz 11y ago
  Not to shoot the messenger, but it annoys me when these things are viewed through the lens of artificial divisions such as nations. I understand that space exploration has been used as a tool to further many political machines, but it seems silly to me, especially when staring at a picture as beautiful as this from a distance that makes Earth seem so small, to think about the people living on this planet as anything other than humans, rather than citizens of different countries. It just feels divisive where it should really feel uniting. (Kumbaya!) I really hope we someday get to the point where no one really cares what "country" achieved the next space exploration milestone. edit: To be fair, I am really heartened when I see how international the teams that do work in the space station generally are. We've come a long way.
  - tgcordell 11y ago
    Competition breeds innovation. Yes, we are one planet and one species, but our species is Human and we have an innate nature to compete!
    - dalke 11y ago
      Competition may breed innovation, but surely it's not the truism you suggest. Sears is an example of how the introduction of internal competition does not lead to useful innovation - http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/07/16/do-internal-markets-nourish-innovation-the-case-of-sears/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/07/16/do-inter... (It may lead to increased levels of backstabbing, but that's hardly innovative.) Humans are a social species, so also have an innate nature to cooperate. Also, the concept of 'country' is a rather recent invention. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_state#History_and_origins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_state#History_and_origi... for some context. It's certainly possible that kohanz's "hope [that] we someday get to the point where no one really cares what "country" achieved the next space exploration milestone" can be true yet still have competitiveness. Perhaps space exploration of 100 years from now will be lead by volunteer teams based on, their WoW clan membership. While preposterous, the teams could still be competitive even if they are not organized by nations.
Mahn 11y ago
Apparently it snows on Pluto: Pluto has an atmosphere. It snows on Pluto and the snow sublimates back into the atmosphere. https://twitter.com/OSIRISREx/status/620932748824285184 https://twitter.com/OSIRISREx/status/620932748824285184
- Splendor 11y ago
  With a 248-year orbit around the sun those must be some long winters.
  - bargl 11y ago
    I know I'm sorry I'm sorry but I can't help myself. "Winter is coming."
  - InclinedPlane 11y ago
    The long winters aren't so bad, although sometimes it's a bit disconcerting when the commander thinks aloud.
- mFixman 11y ago
  I find it absolutely amazing that nobody knew this 12 hours ago.
  - ars 11y ago
    Sorry to burst your bubble but this was known years ago. The information is not from this mission. Google for "pluto atmosphere collapse" and set the date range to before Aug 2013.
lfmunoz4 11y ago
Why can't we see any stars or light in the background?
- el_duderino 11y ago
  The reason that the stars do not show up on the image is that the stars are so dim that the camera cannot gather enough of their light in a short exposure.
  - tlb 11y ago
    Since you can see stars near the moon, you should be able to see stars near Pluto, which is less bright. More likely, there are no stars in the (very narrow) angle of the camera.
    - thwest 11y ago
      Perhaps no significantly bright stars. I find it unlikely that there are zero stars in that field of view, especially since the probe and planet are most likely roughly in the plane of the galaxy.
      - bdamm 11y ago
        This is basically heresy, but what I've been told is that imaging stars from space is actually more difficult, because there is no diffusion of the local atmosphere to help increase the perceived size of the point light source.
        thwest 11y ago
        Ah yes it is reasonable that several other characteristics make the sensor less likely to register photons from the field of view here. (The sensor/lens could also have some spatial frequency response characteristics that filter out non-diffused stars). I don't find it reasonable that there are no stars in that field of view though :)
        11y ago
japhyr 11y ago
The images we've been seeing the last few weeks, which grew by a few pixels every day or so, were exciting. I read about how much higher resolution the images would be as the probe reached its closest point in the flyby. But I had no idea how striking the best images would be. When I opened this article, my jaw dropped. I never in my life expected to see Pluto in this level of detail. I always imagined it would be just a cold ball of rock. This is absolutely amazing. And there's this still: Images set to be released on Wednesday will be more than 10 times the resolution of those already published.
buyx 11y ago
Plutos "demotion" from being a fully-fledged planet makes me wonder if it would have been politically feasible to start the New Horizons project if the redefinition had happened a few years earlier. Still, I am pleasantly surprised by the excitement this mission is garnering.
- gus_massa 11y ago
  The Dawn mission went to Vesta and Ceres, so I guess you could get funds for a dwarf planet mission to Pluto and Charon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_(spacecraft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_(spacecraft) (They are closer, so probably the New Horizons mission is more expensive.)
- mturmon 11y ago
  It is well-known that the New Horizons PI, Alan Stern, had a strong distaste for the "demotion" of Pluto. (An extreme example, this interview: http://www.space.com/12710-pluto-defender-alan-stern-dwarf-planet-interview.html http://www.space.com/12710-pluto-defender-alan-stern-dwarf-p..., which is rather ... over the top in terms of its arguments.)
  - yellowapple 11y ago
    I actually think his core argument - that a "planet" should be determined by its physical characteristics rather than where its orbit happens to lie - is pretty reasoned and grounded in logic. I'm on his side about the whole "clearing the neighborhood" criterion; it's totally arbitrary, and has less to do with the object itself than it does with where that object lives.
- spuz 11y ago
  I actually think Pluto's classification as a dwarf planet actually gives New Horizons more significance, not less. Pluto the planet was just a tiny very far away example of an object which we have already studied a great deal of. Pluto the dwarf planet instead is one of the largest and nearest example of an object we know very little and have never studied before (I.e. the kupier belt objects) and which can give us hopefully a lot more insight into how the solar system formed.
mathattack 11y ago
This gives me a tremendous amount of Pride in humanity, even though I had nothing to do with it. (Other than perhaps pay a little bit of taxes)
Trombone12 11y ago
Does anyone know of a KSP mod or similar that reproduces the current status of interplanetary probes in the solar system?
- yellowapple 11y ago
  I don't know about reproducing statuses, but between the KASA pack and the Real Solar System mod, I'm sure one could have a blast recreating quite a few real missions (though I think KASA focuses more on manned missions than unmanned).
markbnine 11y ago
What we need now is a real-time play-by-play by Carl Sagan. . e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8eqYVFgzIU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8eqYVFgzIU Or Larry Soderblom on Triton. Try to dig up the full "Encounter with Neptune". . . classic. . . first ten minutes - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8zzlq_encounter-with-neptune-www-document_tech http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8zzlq_encounter-with-neptu...
artur_makly 11y ago
So this got me thinking... is there a way to forecast our space-travel capacity into the far future? Could we conceivably create a formula that takes into account all of humanity's previous milestones of technological breakthrough's and the distances they have achieved for us.. and project where we could be 100, 500, 1000 yrs from now? Perhaps there is a vague velocity pattern we can derive from a plethora of historic data? *apologies for not being very articulate today..im still in awe!
- Cthulhu_ 11y ago
  A formula? No, probably not; the thing with space exploration is that it depends on the one hand on money, i.e. government funding or commercial exploitation, and on the other on physics - getting something into space, let alone propel it far away, is a very costly process when it comes to fuel and whatnot required - which increases exponentially the more you want to achieve out there. Although companies like Virgin Intergalactic and SpaceX are working hard on making it more affordable, thanks to some advancements. Still though, practically speaking, getting anything into orbit is hard enough. We'll probably see a manned Mars mission in our lifetime, but for anything beyond that you'll probably have to read science fiction.
  - drjesusphd 11y ago
    > Still though, practically speaking, getting anything into orbit is hard enough. As the saying goes, "low Earth orbit is halfway to anywhere in the solar system".
- vlasev 11y ago
  The closest thing I know about, that's close to what you are talking about, is the wait calculation. Basically, if you assume that the velocity we can attain grows exponentially, and if you do a calculation, you'll find a "best time" when to launch. Assuming that the velocity grows with an exponential growth of 1.4%, equal to the current world economic growth, says that the earliest we would expect to get to the closest star is 1110 years from 2007, or 3117. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wait_Calculation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wait_Calculation
chatterbeak 11y ago
Wikipedia says the data rate from Pluto is effectively about 1 KBit/second. That's why it takes so long to get the photos.... I'd like to find more detailed information about the hardware and software on this thing. It's amazing that it was launched back in 2006. My 2006 Mac Pro is basically useless now....
zkhalique 11y ago
Why didn't it stop to look around? Smell the proverbial roses? Wasn't that its main mission? Or is it now going to check out other Kuiper belt objects?
- ramidarigaz 11y ago
  It was going much too fast to stop (given the available propellant). Also, that would have extended the transit time significantly. On the upside, it's sounding like the Kuiper belt is a really interesting place, so we'll get to see much more!
- ars 11y ago
  It's moving too fast for it to stop. It's not [currently] possible to ship enough fuel for it to stop by using rockets. And there is no good atmosphere for it to use to stop (plus we don't have enough information about the atmosphere to design anything yet). So it will just do a very short flyby, then spend the next year or two sending the data back to Earth. After that it's not decided, but probably some Kuiper belt object like you suggest.
outworlder 11y ago
Today's XKCD: http://xkcd.com/1551/ http://xkcd.com/1551/
meerita 11y ago
I hope we can reach even faster speeds for the next missions. This one made it relatively quick, the next one can be faster?
ishanr 11y ago
Its so amazing to live in a time we found the Higgs boson and flying by Pluto.

558 points by nns 11y ago

huuu 11y ago

It seems Pluto has much less craters than our moon. Is this because our moon is much closer to a heavy body which attracts all kinds of objects? Anyway: wow! The quality of this preview is already amazing. Waiting for the high res version :)

cgriswald 11y ago
I think the main reason is that Pluto has an active atmosphere; it snows. Plutos icy surface may be somewhat active as well, so craters may disappear over time in a way that the craters on the moon cannot. However, there may be other factors: 1. As you note, the mass of the Earth-Moon system is much greater than the mass of the Pluto-Charon system. 2. In the Earth-Moon system, the moon is the outer protector. In the Pluto system, there are five smaller protectors and Pluto is the protected. 3. The inner solar system is a small, dense region closer to the gravity of the sun and gas giants. Objects thrown in our direction are likely to stick around. In contrast, the Kuiper Belt isn't very dense and objects thrown in that direction not only have more places to go, but may be on their way out of the solar system or into extended hyperbolic orbits. 3. KBOs aren't very dense, so even impacts which occur may not create massive craters.

adventured 11y ago

A larger image was just posted to the New Horizons Twitter account. Image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJ32XAEVAAAp_8T.png:large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJ32XAEVAAAp_8T.png:large Tweet: https://twitter.com/NASANewHorizons/status/620923200621412352 https://twitter.com/NASANewHorizons/status/62092320062141235...

smackfu 11y ago
I bet the scientists just hate that this stuff is shared on Twitter. They made a big deal that this was transmitted from New Horizons as a compressed image (to transmit it quickly) and then it gets mauled by Twitter's recompression too.
- natep 11y ago
  It's not like these copies replace the higher-res ones. Not a project scientist, but I'd rather as many people as possible see some image than only a few see only any at all.
  - smackfu 11y ago
    The problem is when people zoom in and "see" things in the JPEG compression artifacts. Also when they release the pic on Twitter in crappy form before they release it in uncompressed form.
    - mixmastamyk 11y ago
      It says png on the file and headers.
      - smackfu 11y ago
        Ah, it does! They did the original "sneak peak" on Instagram and this was the file: https://igcdn-photos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t51.2885-15/11311925_687877714680167_484233801_n.jpg https://igcdn-photos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t51.28... I hear so many complaints about Twitter recompressing pics I figured that would happen here.

dingaling 11y ago

That flag-waving and chanting of U-S-A U-S-A at the point of closest approach was one of the most appalling, jingoistic, alienating spectacles I've ever seen. You'd think they had just planted the flag in the soil ( ice? ) and claimed Pluto for God and America. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Space Race is over. Grow up. You're doing this for all humanity.

smackay 11y ago
"This necessitated aiming New Horizons at a "keyhole" in space just 100km by 150km (60miles by 90 miles), and arriving at that location within a set margin of 100 seconds." That's pretty damned impressive by any standard you care to mention so go ahead, "U-S-A" yourselves a few more times. I think it was earned.
- sabertoothed 11y ago
  You do not seem to have understood his / her remark. He / she was not trying to diminish the remarkable achievement nor questioning the celebration of this success. But the jingoistic way it was celebrated. EDIT: Why do I get downvoted? I was merely explaining OP's point of view.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - bullsbarry 11y ago
    Yes. We must make sure to reserve such celebrations for truly important things. Like the World Cup and Olympics.
    - nothrabannosir 11y ago
      Assuming you're being sarcastic; those are actual competitions between nations, by design. His entire point was that this is not a competition. Obviously, if it were, America would be winning. That's not being contested; the problem is not that the US won, the problem is that by continuing to beat the rest of the world over the head with it they are alienating a large chunk of the world. The Art Of War, and all that.

StealthMountain 11y ago

Is there a mountain hiding on Pluto?

struct 11y ago

I remember reading about Pluto in dozens of space books when I was a child, all filled with beautiful images sent from Voyager I and II, I'm so excited that we can finally add Pluto to that roster Also, it's so incredible that the New Horizon's team has managed to get to something so small and far away!

digi_owl 11y ago
That is a moving target no less.

lmm 11y ago

> Nix is estimated to be about 35km across, and Hydra about 45km in diameter. Kerberos and Hydra are a lot smaller Is one of those Hydras supposed to be something else?

xyclos 11y ago
Probably. Styx is the other one.
- acheron 11y ago
  I'm still disappointed none of them were named "Acheron".

burkek 11y ago

This is incredible. Note that this is also a true representation of Pluto's colours by merging a high resolution greyscale picture taken by the #1 camera "Lorri" and a second (lower resolution) colour picture from the #2 camera "Ralph".

gesman 11y ago

Super achievement. Imagine writing a piece of code see the test results only 9.5 years after !

ben174 11y ago
And I thought testing in CI was slow.

digital-rubber 11y ago

They could not put it in pluto orbit? They need to practice a bit more with Kerbal space program.

chasing 11y ago

This is awesome. Congratulations to everyone who pulled this off (and fingers crossed that the data gets back successfully). Everyone has earned the right to chant the name of whatever country they feel like.

yellowapple 11y ago
Sealand! Sealand! Sealand!

fit2rule 11y ago

I'm more than a little disappointed that we haven't got gleaming alien cities in the viewfinder this time, but I guess there's still a chance that Ceres is going to give humanity the boost it needs. :)

Arjuna 11y ago

In honor of Clyde William Tombaugh [1], the astronomer who discovered Pluto, a canister [2] containing his ashes is on-board the New Horizons space probe. It reads: "Interned herein are remains of American Clyde W. Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto and the Solar System's 'Third Zone.' Adelle and Muron's boy, Patricia's husband, Annette and Alden's father, astronomer, teacher, punster, and friend: Clyde W. Tombaugh (1906 - 1997)." A fitting tribute. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh [2] http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2015_28/1109391/150706-ashes_7dd0a2249a8eb96eedd34f0c5687f931.nbcnews-fp-360-360.jpg http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2015_28/1109391/150706...

gambiting 11y ago
It's interesting that by sending his remains on that probe we basically guaranteed that at least some human remains will survive millions of years in interstellar space, unless of course, New Horizons collides with something(which I guess it will, given enough time?).
- drzaiusapelord 11y ago
  It would be fitting I think if aliens found his ashes considering he's was something of an ET evangelist and eventually claimed some of his mysterious sightings (green fireballs and glowing rectangles moving in unnatural ways) were probably of ET origin and its unscientific to dismiss this out of hand. Wiki: Although our own solar system is believed to support no other life than on Earth, other stars in the galaxy may have hundreds of thousands of habitable worlds. Races on these worlds may have been able to utilize the tremendous amounts of power required to bridge the space between the stars..." Tombaugh stated that he had observed celestial phenomena which he could not explain, but had seen none personally since 1951 or 1952. "These things, which do appear to be directed, are unlike any other phenomena I ever observed. Their apparent lack of obedience to the ordinary laws of celestial motion gives credence." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh#Interest_in_UFOs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh#Interest_in_UFO...
  - 11y ago

stygiansonic 11y ago

As a child, I loved reading about space and astronomy. I think I pretty much read every book about these topics my local town's library. (It wasn't a large {town, library}) Isaac Asimov's non-fiction books were among my favourites. I never imagined that now we'd be getting the level of detail seen in these photos of Pluto (level of detail akin to a Moon shot), which until now, only existed in my mind from various artistic impressions. I can only imagine how the folks on the New Horizons team feel after seeing the results of their work after so much time and effort.

rootbear 11y ago
Amen. I work at NASA and I'm gobsmacked at the beauty of the New Horizons imagery. I can't wait to see the good stuff. Isaac Asimov's science essay collections had a profound effect on me. I learned physics years ahead of when I would have in school by reading these essays and learning how to do calculations involving kinetic energy, mass, acceleration, etc. Even more important, those essays helped me learn how to think like a scientist. Asimov's secular humanist world view also influenced my own world view greatly. I met him several times at various SF conventions and I miss him.
- abecedarius 11y ago
  Not just essays; he wrote something like a real physics textbook at high-school level, which I learned from as a teenager. (Not in school, of course. IIRC it was more illuminating than my actual high-school physics text.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Physics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Physics

lmorris84 11y ago

Does anyone know how they colour correct these images? I'm guessing there isn't a robotic arm holding up a test card in front of the camera :-)

saboot 11y ago
Briefly reading online the main imaging instrument on board, the RALPH camera, includes a visible light CCD with color channels.
nitrogen 11y ago
Interestingly enough, I think that's exactly how the Curiosity rover calibrates its camera, though it's the camera on the robotic arm looking at a fixed test pattern.
andyjohnson0 11y ago
Check out [1]. Seems to be a combination of pre-flight calibration tests and in-flight observation of stars and planets with known optical characteristics. [1] http://www.responsivespace.com/Papers/RS7/SESSIONS/Session%20III/3003_Bauer/3003P.pdf http://www.responsivespace.com/Papers/RS7/SESSIONS/Session%2...
arc_of_descent 11y ago
Does it really matter? I remember reading about this in one of Richard Dawkins' book (I think its Unweaving the rainbow). Now you can complain about the Crab Nebula, whether its color correction, or you are lucky enough to view it up close with a naked eye. The colors you observe are just models of the different frequencies which our brain has evolved into to label as "red", "violet", or "#782". :) A much less/more evolved brain (be it alien or terrestrial) will observer it much differently. Sorry to bring biology into this :)
- arc_of_descent 11y ago
  Ridiculous downvoting. Check outworlder's post for the xkcd link, you petty graphic artists!
11y ago

andyjohnson0 11y ago

There's a detailed and informative article about the design of the New Horizons probe on the British Interplanetary Society site at [1]. An even more detailed description of the science payload can be found at [2]. [1] http://www.bis-space.com/2015/07/13/14875/inside-new-horizons http://www.bis-space.com/2015/07/13/14875/inside-new-horizon... [2] http://www.boulder.swri.edu/pkb/ssr/ssr-payload-overview.pdf http://www.boulder.swri.edu/pkb/ssr/ssr-payload-overview.pdf

andor436 11y ago
For the Twitter-inclined follow Emily Lakdawalla [1] - she is usually mere seconds behind the actual data, which is pretty amazing. [1] https://twitter.com/elakdawalla https://twitter.com/elakdawalla

mattlutze 11y ago

"Jingoism: the feelings and beliefs of people who think that their country is always right and who are in favor of aggressive acts against other countries." [1] Can we please stop comparing a success chant with "aggressive acts against other countries"? Unnecessary nationalism, sure. Jingoism is hyperbole. 1: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jingoism http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jingoism

bargl 11y ago
Your comment confused the heck out of me. Can you clarify a little more? Did I miss something in the article?
- Mahn 11y ago
  Context: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884196
- mattlutze 11y ago
  Sorry, this was meant as a reply to a different thread. Context was: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884930 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884930 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884324 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9884324

blakecaldwell 11y ago

It kills me we're not gonna orbit Pluto.

esusatyo 11y ago
It actually makes me hopeful that New Horizons will have a chance to look further on things in the Kuiper Belt. It's a very interesting area that doesn't get much attention.
- iolothebard 11y ago
  I was upset about not orbiting Pluto initially but the objects they've identified in the Kuiper Belt are dissimilar so that information will be just as valuable IMO. We just need to start setting up bases! ALL YOUR PLUTO BELONG TO US!!!
rootbear 11y ago
In the press conference, the PI was asked about a future mission. He said that he has thought about orbiters and landers and considers the Pluto system to be a valuable science target. But he said that we need to study the New Horizons data for some years, to better design the next mission. At this time, they wouldn't know what the best instruments to send would be. Also, it is far from clear how to send a mission to Pluto that takes a reasonable amount of time to get there (9 years, in the case of New Horizons) but can also stop when it gets there. Cassini took almost seven years to reach Saturn and the orbital insertion burn was something like ninety minutes! I'm not sure how fast it was going at the time, compared to New Horizons at Pluto, but the point is, if you want to get there quickly, you go fast, but then it's hard to stop.
- smackfu 11y ago
  > At this time, they wouldn't know what the best instruments to send would be. There's an interesting BBC documentary series on the planets, called The Planets, that has an episode covering the Voyager probes. They had to do some quick redesigns on them after Pioneer 10 and 11 visited the outer planets and found fun stuff like radiation and unexpected rings. They said that if they hadn't had the earlier probes, Voyager would have been fried when it got to the system.

kartikkumar 11y ago

Quote from a friend of mine on the team: "After 9.5 years and 6 billion km, we made it to Pluto 72 seconds ahead of schedule." Amazing! The views of Pluto and Charon already reveal how incredibly fascinating this system is. The dichotomy of their surface colours will most definitely lead to further insight into formation processes in the Kuiper Belt. Just such a shame that we can't land this time around. With the volume of discoveries generated by MESSENGER and Cassini, and the wealth of knowledge that New Horizons is going to generate, it's such a shame that my favourite planet, Uranus, is likely not going to be visited in my lifetime. I spent my PhD studying the mysterious outer ring system of Uranus, and I'm 100% positive that a close-up view of the entire system would blow our minds. Somebody who solves/disrupts science communication deserves a Nobel Prize. EDIT: Fixed typos

japhyr 11y ago
I love HN for things like this - personal accounts of people associated with groundbreaking projects. Thanks for sharing. Most of your post is about visiting planets and exploring the solar system, but you close witha comment about disrupting science communication. What aspects of science communication are you referring to?
- SoulMan 11y ago
  Not sure but I think he was talking about the fact that NASA had to close the communication with the satellite so that it can get busy with clicking and doing science with Pluto during the flyby
- kartikkumar 11y ago
  I realise that I made an unexplained logical leap to get to the last comment. Basically, based on my professional experience as a planetary scientist, it's my belief that the reason we don't have more satellites cruising through the Solar System is that we (and I mean scientists, engineers, administrators etc.) continue to fail in communicating their true value to the average person on the street. I think that media like Twitter, Instagram, blogs etc. have definitely helped raise the profile of interplanetary exploration, but I'm still waiting for the genius that comes up with the trump card that will enable science communication to become at least 10x more effective. The fact that missions like Cassini, Kepler etc. have to fight to keep the lights on is IMHO testament to the fact that we've failed in communicating their value to society. I try to post stuff on my blog [1] to engage people in the wonders of space science and exploration: it doesn't feel effective though. Someone that figures out how to fully convey the value of missions like New Horizons to the public deserves a serious pat on the back. [1] http://www.kartikkumar.com http://www.kartikkumar.com

pavel_lishin 11y ago

Is the clip at the top just audio with a black screen? That seems like the least useful thing; I'd wager that any blind visitors have screen readers.

e0m 11y ago

Traveling at 16km/s for 9.5 years would dilate time by almost 300 minutes! Not only is there a 4.5 hr delay because of the speed of light, there's an extra 300 min of relativity correction.

rootbear 11y ago
Whoa! I hadn't thought about that. The speed of New Horizons hasn't been constant, of course, but the accumulated time difference is probably close to what you calculated. There would also be a correction due to it being farther out of the Sun's gravity well, but that's a much trickery calculation.
- ars 11y ago
  (Just a note: His math is off.) You also have to account for the dilation caused by the force of launch itself. But then you have to subtract the dilation of Earth. > There would also be a correction due to it being farther out of the Sun's gravity well Because it is in free-fall relative to the Sun there is no Solar gravitational dilation.
devb 11y ago
But the transmission time delay is still only 4.5 hours, not 9.5. The onboard clock has simply drifted out of sync with one on Earth.
agildehaus 11y ago
It's been a while since I took a physics course, but: t' = t * (1-v^2/c^2)^(1/2) t' = 9.5 * (1-16000^2/299792458^2)^(1/2) t' = 9.5 * 0.99999999857... (t-t') years = 426.7 milliseconds
Trombone12 11y ago
Ok lets see if we can get this to match. I get the gamma factor to be gam = 0.9999999985758079 with this, earth sees any time interval on new horizons t' to be \detla t' = \delta t / gam longer than the time t on earth. Integrating both sides above over time, keeping velocity constant, we get t' = t/ gam = 9.5 yr / 0.9999999985758079 = 9.500000013529824 yr this gives an difference between our observed "new horizons time" and out local time of t' - t = t/gam - t = (1/gam - 1) t = 0.4 s we disagree by about a factor of 45000.

ringshall 11y ago

Interesting note, as of today, the US is the first country to have successful spacecraft missions visit all of the classical planets. There is one big exception, of course: the Soviet Union was the first to have a spacecraft visit Earth, with Spunink. This category is completely arbitrary, especially given that Pluto is now considered a minor planet. Still, it's an achievement of note. Mercury - 1974, Mariner 10 Venus --- 1962, Mariner 2 Earth --- 1957, Sputnik 1 Mars* --- 1965, Mariner 4 Jupiter - 1973, Pioneer 10 Saturn -- 1979, Pioneer 11 Uranus -- 1986, Voyager 2 Neptune - 1989, Voyager 2 Pluto --- 2015, New Horizons * The Soviet Union launched several probes to Mars before the US did, but those probes failed. This may be true of other planets as well. edit: formatting

kohanz 11y ago
Not to shoot the messenger, but it annoys me when these things are viewed through the lens of artificial divisions such as nations. I understand that space exploration has been used as a tool to further many political machines, but it seems silly to me, especially when staring at a picture as beautiful as this from a distance that makes Earth seem so small, to think about the people living on this planet as anything other than humans, rather than citizens of different countries. It just feels divisive where it should really feel uniting. (Kumbaya!) I really hope we someday get to the point where no one really cares what "country" achieved the next space exploration milestone. edit: To be fair, I am really heartened when I see how international the teams that do work in the space station generally are. We've come a long way.
- tgcordell 11y ago
  Competition breeds innovation. Yes, we are one planet and one species, but our species is Human and we have an innate nature to compete!
  - dalke 11y ago
    Competition may breed innovation, but surely it's not the truism you suggest. Sears is an example of how the introduction of internal competition does not lead to useful innovation - http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/07/16/do-internal-markets-nourish-innovation-the-case-of-sears/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/07/16/do-inter... (It may lead to increased levels of backstabbing, but that's hardly innovative.) Humans are a social species, so also have an innate nature to cooperate. Also, the concept of 'country' is a rather recent invention. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_state#History_and_origins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_state#History_and_origi... for some context. It's certainly possible that kohanz's "hope [that] we someday get to the point where no one really cares what "country" achieved the next space exploration milestone" can be true yet still have competitiveness. Perhaps space exploration of 100 years from now will be lead by volunteer teams based on, their WoW clan membership. While preposterous, the teams could still be competitive even if they are not organized by nations.

Mahn 11y ago

Apparently it snows on Pluto: Pluto has an atmosphere. It snows on Pluto and the snow sublimates back into the atmosphere. https://twitter.com/OSIRISREx/status/620932748824285184 https://twitter.com/OSIRISREx/status/620932748824285184

Splendor 11y ago
With a 248-year orbit around the sun those must be some long winters.
- bargl 11y ago
  I know I'm sorry I'm sorry but I can't help myself. "Winter is coming."
- InclinedPlane 11y ago
  The long winters aren't so bad, although sometimes it's a bit disconcerting when the commander thinks aloud.
mFixman 11y ago
I find it absolutely amazing that nobody knew this 12 hours ago.
- ars 11y ago
  Sorry to burst your bubble but this was known years ago. The information is not from this mission. Google for "pluto atmosphere collapse" and set the date range to before Aug 2013.

lfmunoz4 11y ago

Why can't we see any stars or light in the background?

el_duderino 11y ago
The reason that the stars do not show up on the image is that the stars are so dim that the camera cannot gather enough of their light in a short exposure.
- tlb 11y ago
  Since you can see stars near the moon, you should be able to see stars near Pluto, which is less bright. More likely, there are no stars in the (very narrow) angle of the camera.
  - thwest 11y ago
    Perhaps no significantly bright stars. I find it unlikely that there are zero stars in that field of view, especially since the probe and planet are most likely roughly in the plane of the galaxy.
    - bdamm 11y ago
      This is basically heresy, but what I've been told is that imaging stars from space is actually more difficult, because there is no diffusion of the local atmosphere to help increase the perceived size of the point light source.
      - thwest 11y ago
        Ah yes it is reasonable that several other characteristics make the sensor less likely to register photons from the field of view here. (The sensor/lens could also have some spatial frequency response characteristics that filter out non-diffused stars). I don't find it reasonable that there are no stars in that field of view though :)
      - 11y ago

japhyr 11y ago

The images we've been seeing the last few weeks, which grew by a few pixels every day or so, were exciting. I read about how much higher resolution the images would be as the probe reached its closest point in the flyby. But I had no idea how striking the best images would be. When I opened this article, my jaw dropped. I never in my life expected to see Pluto in this level of detail. I always imagined it would be just a cold ball of rock. This is absolutely amazing. And there's this still: Images set to be released on Wednesday will be more than 10 times the resolution of those already published.

buyx 11y ago

Plutos "demotion" from being a fully-fledged planet makes me wonder if it would have been politically feasible to start the New Horizons project if the redefinition had happened a few years earlier. Still, I am pleasantly surprised by the excitement this mission is garnering.

gus_massa 11y ago
The Dawn mission went to Vesta and Ceres, so I guess you could get funds for a dwarf planet mission to Pluto and Charon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_(spacecraft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_(spacecraft) (They are closer, so probably the New Horizons mission is more expensive.)
mturmon 11y ago
It is well-known that the New Horizons PI, Alan Stern, had a strong distaste for the "demotion" of Pluto. (An extreme example, this interview: http://www.space.com/12710-pluto-defender-alan-stern-dwarf-planet-interview.html http://www.space.com/12710-pluto-defender-alan-stern-dwarf-p..., which is rather ... over the top in terms of its arguments.)
- yellowapple 11y ago
  I actually think his core argument - that a "planet" should be determined by its physical characteristics rather than where its orbit happens to lie - is pretty reasoned and grounded in logic. I'm on his side about the whole "clearing the neighborhood" criterion; it's totally arbitrary, and has less to do with the object itself than it does with where that object lives.
spuz 11y ago
I actually think Pluto's classification as a dwarf planet actually gives New Horizons more significance, not less. Pluto the planet was just a tiny very far away example of an object which we have already studied a great deal of. Pluto the dwarf planet instead is one of the largest and nearest example of an object we know very little and have never studied before (I.e. the kupier belt objects) and which can give us hopefully a lot more insight into how the solar system formed.

mathattack 11y ago

This gives me a tremendous amount of Pride in humanity, even though I had nothing to do with it. (Other than perhaps pay a little bit of taxes)

Trombone12 11y ago

Does anyone know of a KSP mod or similar that reproduces the current status of interplanetary probes in the solar system?

yellowapple 11y ago
I don't know about reproducing statuses, but between the KASA pack and the Real Solar System mod, I'm sure one could have a blast recreating quite a few real missions (though I think KASA focuses more on manned missions than unmanned).

markbnine 11y ago

What we need now is a real-time play-by-play by Carl Sagan. . e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8eqYVFgzIU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8eqYVFgzIU Or Larry Soderblom on Triton. Try to dig up the full "Encounter with Neptune". . . classic. . . first ten minutes - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8zzlq_encounter-with-neptune-www-document_tech http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8zzlq_encounter-with-neptu...

artur_makly 11y ago

So this got me thinking... is there a way to forecast our space-travel capacity into the far future? Could we conceivably create a formula that takes into account all of humanity's previous milestones of technological breakthrough's and the distances they have achieved for us.. and project where we could be 100, 500, 1000 yrs from now? Perhaps there is a vague velocity pattern we can derive from a plethora of historic data? *apologies for not being very articulate today..im still in awe!

Cthulhu_ 11y ago
A formula? No, probably not; the thing with space exploration is that it depends on the one hand on money, i.e. government funding or commercial exploitation, and on the other on physics - getting something into space, let alone propel it far away, is a very costly process when it comes to fuel and whatnot required - which increases exponentially the more you want to achieve out there. Although companies like Virgin Intergalactic and SpaceX are working hard on making it more affordable, thanks to some advancements. Still though, practically speaking, getting anything into orbit is hard enough. We'll probably see a manned Mars mission in our lifetime, but for anything beyond that you'll probably have to read science fiction.
- drjesusphd 11y ago
  > Still though, practically speaking, getting anything into orbit is hard enough. As the saying goes, "low Earth orbit is halfway to anywhere in the solar system".
vlasev 11y ago
The closest thing I know about, that's close to what you are talking about, is the wait calculation. Basically, if you assume that the velocity we can attain grows exponentially, and if you do a calculation, you'll find a "best time" when to launch. Assuming that the velocity grows with an exponential growth of 1.4%, equal to the current world economic growth, says that the earliest we would expect to get to the closest star is 1110 years from 2007, or 3117. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wait_Calculation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wait_Calculation

chatterbeak 11y ago

Wikipedia says the data rate from Pluto is effectively about 1 KBit/second. That's why it takes so long to get the photos.... I'd like to find more detailed information about the hardware and software on this thing. It's amazing that it was launched back in 2006. My 2006 Mac Pro is basically useless now....

zkhalique 11y ago

Why didn't it stop to look around? Smell the proverbial roses? Wasn't that its main mission? Or is it now going to check out other Kuiper belt objects?

ramidarigaz 11y ago
It was going much too fast to stop (given the available propellant). Also, that would have extended the transit time significantly. On the upside, it's sounding like the Kuiper belt is a really interesting place, so we'll get to see much more!
ars 11y ago
It's moving too fast for it to stop. It's not [currently] possible to ship enough fuel for it to stop by using rockets. And there is no good atmosphere for it to use to stop (plus we don't have enough information about the atmosphere to design anything yet). So it will just do a very short flyby, then spend the next year or two sending the data back to Earth. After that it's not decided, but probably some Kuiper belt object like you suggest.

outworlder 11y ago

Today's XKCD: http://xkcd.com/1551/ http://xkcd.com/1551/

meerita 11y ago

I hope we can reach even faster speeds for the next missions. This one made it relatively quick, the next one can be faster?

ishanr 11y ago

Its so amazing to live in a time we found the Higgs boson and flying by Pluto.