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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.
  - scrumper 11y ago
    I second that recommendation, and it's currently on Netflix. It's a good documentary series. A little long in the tooth now, but only for the entirely positive reason that we've done a fair bit more planetary science since it was made.
dalke 11y ago
There is a mission study which says it's feasible to orbit Pluto. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/doc/PRO/ACT-RPR-PRO-ISTS2004-Pluto.pdf http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/doc/PRO/ACT-RPR-PRO-ISTS2004-Plut... . It requires 4 RTGs, nuclear electric propulsion, and 18 years of travel time. You might be dead by the time that actually happens, so better to be killed by sorrow of only getting fly-by data than the agony of having only what Hubble and its successors can resolve.
- cgriswald 11y ago
  It can't actually happen. NASA only has enough Pu-238 for three more RTGs.
  - ars 11y ago
    They can use Americium-241, it's not quite as good, but it has some advantages, plus it's in much larger supply.
    - jessaustin 11y ago
      One can just imagine the complaints about the name of that fuel...
      - lmm 11y ago
        It seems like just the ticket to get a certain contingent on board. "The noble probe will remain stout and true; in the freezing depths of space it will be warmed by the Americium it carries in its heart."
  - drjesusphd 11y ago
    Why can't they get more?
    - TheCoreh 11y ago
      I might be mistaken, (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong) but IIRC Plutonium is a side-product of the enrichment of weapons-grade Uranium. I think the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons treaty might impose some barriers on this process, and we're no longer in the Cold War, so it's kinda hard to get Plutonium.

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.
- scrumper 11y ago
  I second that recommendation, and it's currently on Netflix. It's a good documentary series. A little long in the tooth now, but only for the entirely positive reason that we've done a fair bit more planetary science since it was made.

dalke 11y ago

There is a mission study which says it's feasible to orbit Pluto. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/doc/PRO/ACT-RPR-PRO-ISTS2004-Pluto.pdf http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/doc/PRO/ACT-RPR-PRO-ISTS2004-Plut... . It requires 4 RTGs, nuclear electric propulsion, and 18 years of travel time. You might be dead by the time that actually happens, so better to be killed by sorrow of only getting fly-by data than the agony of having only what Hubble and its successors can resolve.

cgriswald 11y ago
It can't actually happen. NASA only has enough Pu-238 for three more RTGs.
- ars 11y ago
  They can use Americium-241, it's not quite as good, but it has some advantages, plus it's in much larger supply.
  - jessaustin 11y ago
    One can just imagine the complaints about the name of that fuel...
    - lmm 11y ago
      It seems like just the ticket to get a certain contingent on board. "The noble probe will remain stout and true; in the freezing depths of space it will be warmed by the Americium it carries in its heart."
- drjesusphd 11y ago
  Why can't they get more?
  - TheCoreh 11y ago
    I might be mistaken, (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong) but IIRC Plutonium is a side-product of the enrichment of weapons-grade Uranium. I think the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons treaty might impose some barriers on this process, and we're no longer in the Cold War, so it's kinda hard to get Plutonium.