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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 an

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
  - Sven7 11y ago
    All you have to do is convince Kim Kardashian its important...
    - antjanus 11y ago
      just send her a tweet with this then.
    - meric 11y ago
      She can help focus half of America's population onto the problem of budgets for space exploration for all of twenty minutes.
  - bdamm 11y ago
    What, Kepler is fighting to keep the lights on? The greatest mission that NASA has ever undertaken? I'm saddened to hear that.
    - kartikkumar 11y ago
      Well Kepler did win that fight. NASA fortunately decided to breathe life into an extended mission called K2 [1]. This didn't happen without A LOT of back and forth between administrators and scientists though. [1] http://kepler.nasa.gov/news/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=341 http://kepler.nasa.gov/news/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&Ne...
    - Patrick_Devine 11y ago
      It's not helped by being hobbled with two of four broken reaction wheels. It's awesome that we've figured out a way to keep prolonging the mission. You can't argue with the results though; Over a thousand planets discovered with another four thousand candidates. I'm not sure why we don't have multiple Kepler-like missions running simultaneously to map out our entire section of the Milky Way.
      - bdamm 11y ago
        How about a Kepler-like mission that uses perturbations instead of transits?
tammer 11y ago
Why Uranus?
- kartikkumar 11y ago
  Great question. Scientifically, I can't say that Uranus is "better" than any other planet or Solar System body. Neptune, for instance, is also a fascinating system, especially as someone working on modeling planetary rings. My "preference" for Uranus simply comes from the hours and hours I've spent trying to model dynamic processes in the system. It's a truly fascinating and in some sense "rapidly" evolving system. I spent my time looking at the tiny moon Mab [1] and I could spend hours telling you about how fascinating it is. If you consider how many other moons and rings there are in the system, it's just a shame to think I might not live long enought to see the undoubtedly incredible discoveries that an orbiter would lead to. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mab_(moon) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mab_(moon)
- yellowapple 11y ago
  Why not Uranus?
chasing 11y ago
Any actual engineer will probably find this comment painfully naive, but here we go: If it's infeasible to slow down to get into orbit or land on Pluto, what about the feasibility of designing a probe to impact Pluto at XX km/sec and survive well enough to send back data. Like, fire a (metaphorical) bullet full of scientific instruments directly into the surface of the planet. Is it simply that we have no way to build something that could both survive such an impact and be complex enough to do anything useful afterwards? Or might it create too much destruction on Pluto's surface? Or some combination of those? Edit: I mean, it worked when we went to the Moon: http://gallerytpw.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Georges-M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s_Le-voyage-dans-la-Lune.jpg http://gallerytpw.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Georges-M%C3... Edit 2: Not literally a bullet. I'm aware of the speed difference between NH and a bullet. ;-)
- unclebucknasty 11y ago
  Wonder if there would have been any way to use Neptune to slow the probe? Probably would have been travelling too fast, I'm guessing.
- trothamel 11y ago
  It's probably the former. It's been tried before, with Deep Space Two at mars - but didn't work. There's also a sense that if you're going to spend tons of money to send a once-in-a-generation probe to an outer planet, it has to work.
- grinich 11y ago
  A bullet travels about 1,700 MPH. New Horizons is going about 36,300 MPH. The probe weighs 480 kilograms, so it's kinetic energy is approximately 63.2 Gigajoules. For reference, this is like 15 tonnes of TNT released on impact. Hard to make something that survives those kind of conditions.
  - ceejayoz 11y ago
    Plus, probes that far out have worse-than-dialup transmission rates. It takes 42 minutes to return a single photo from the LORRI camera. Bursting large amounts of data out in a short period of time before impact isn't feasible. http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/01300800-talking-to-pluto-is-hard.html http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/0130080...
dangerboysteve 11y ago
I watched the Nat Geo special on this the other day. Apart from the fact that Nat Geo is a piece of cp, I was amazed about the challenges and engineering behind this project. Even more amazing is the fact it captured images of Pluto. The show explained there was a chance the cameras could have faced the wrong direction. And the note about the probe also carrying the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh was touching.
ytdht 11y ago
hopefully they are not taking the pictures ~72 seconds too late
InclinedPlane 11y ago
Two things. In the near future launch prices are going to be much lower, which changes the landscape in exploration and exploitation of space completely. That means that you can get more missions for fewer dollars. It means you can be more adventurous and innovative (since the cost of failure is lower and the time to recover is shorter). Which includes things like making increasing use of advanced propulsion (ion engines, plasma propulsion, etc.) which would enable things like a Neptune orbiter or what-have-you. As to communications, almost certainly there will be a change to laser based communications over long distances. The technology is maturing and once we have the ability to put more infrastructure off-Earth (orbit, etc.) then you can replace things like the DSN with laser based communication hubs in orbit or at L2 or L4/L5 or wherever. They'd take the form of essentially space telescopes with special instrumentation for sending and receiving laser comms. That would make it possible to send and receive at a much higher rate across the entire solar system.
z3t4 11y ago
Cant you just "dock" with the planet, by slowly matching the speed of the moving body using a Hohmann transfer!?
- lmm 11y ago
  Any change in orbit takes thrust; whether you do it slowly or quickly the required delta-V is the same. New Horizons used a gravity assist from Jupiter to get up to speed, but there's no conveniently placed Jupiter to help it slow down.
- JshWright 11y ago
  Yes, you could... if you were willing to wait 100+ years.
nightcracker 11y ago
Just to put it in perspective, 72 seconds on 9.5 years is 0.000024% tolerance.

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
- Sven7 11y ago
  All you have to do is convince Kim Kardashian its important...
  - antjanus 11y ago
    just send her a tweet with this then.
  - meric 11y ago
    She can help focus half of America's population onto the problem of budgets for space exploration for all of twenty minutes.
- bdamm 11y ago
  What, Kepler is fighting to keep the lights on? The greatest mission that NASA has ever undertaken? I'm saddened to hear that.
  - kartikkumar 11y ago
    Well Kepler did win that fight. NASA fortunately decided to breathe life into an extended mission called K2 [1]. This didn't happen without A LOT of back and forth between administrators and scientists though. [1] http://kepler.nasa.gov/news/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=341 http://kepler.nasa.gov/news/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&Ne...
  - Patrick_Devine 11y ago
    It's not helped by being hobbled with two of four broken reaction wheels. It's awesome that we've figured out a way to keep prolonging the mission. You can't argue with the results though; Over a thousand planets discovered with another four thousand candidates. I'm not sure why we don't have multiple Kepler-like missions running simultaneously to map out our entire section of the Milky Way.
    - bdamm 11y ago
      How about a Kepler-like mission that uses perturbations instead of transits?

tammer 11y ago

Why Uranus?

kartikkumar 11y ago
Great question. Scientifically, I can't say that Uranus is "better" than any other planet or Solar System body. Neptune, for instance, is also a fascinating system, especially as someone working on modeling planetary rings. My "preference" for Uranus simply comes from the hours and hours I've spent trying to model dynamic processes in the system. It's a truly fascinating and in some sense "rapidly" evolving system. I spent my time looking at the tiny moon Mab [1] and I could spend hours telling you about how fascinating it is. If you consider how many other moons and rings there are in the system, it's just a shame to think I might not live long enought to see the undoubtedly incredible discoveries that an orbiter would lead to. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mab_(moon) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mab_(moon)
yellowapple 11y ago
Why not Uranus?

chasing 11y ago

Any actual engineer will probably find this comment painfully naive, but here we go: If it's infeasible to slow down to get into orbit or land on Pluto, what about the feasibility of designing a probe to impact Pluto at XX km/sec and survive well enough to send back data. Like, fire a (metaphorical) bullet full of scientific instruments directly into the surface of the planet. Is it simply that we have no way to build something that could both survive such an impact and be complex enough to do anything useful afterwards? Or might it create too much destruction on Pluto's surface? Or some combination of those? Edit: I mean, it worked when we went to the Moon: http://gallerytpw.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Georges-M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s_Le-voyage-dans-la-Lune.jpg http://gallerytpw.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Georges-M%C3... Edit 2: Not literally a bullet. I'm aware of the speed difference between NH and a bullet. ;-)

unclebucknasty 11y ago
Wonder if there would have been any way to use Neptune to slow the probe? Probably would have been travelling too fast, I'm guessing.
trothamel 11y ago
It's probably the former. It's been tried before, with Deep Space Two at mars - but didn't work. There's also a sense that if you're going to spend tons of money to send a once-in-a-generation probe to an outer planet, it has to work.
grinich 11y ago
A bullet travels about 1,700 MPH. New Horizons is going about 36,300 MPH. The probe weighs 480 kilograms, so it's kinetic energy is approximately 63.2 Gigajoules. For reference, this is like 15 tonnes of TNT released on impact. Hard to make something that survives those kind of conditions.
- ceejayoz 11y ago
  Plus, probes that far out have worse-than-dialup transmission rates. It takes 42 minutes to return a single photo from the LORRI camera. Bursting large amounts of data out in a short period of time before impact isn't feasible. http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/01300800-talking-to-pluto-is-hard.html http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/0130080...

dangerboysteve 11y ago

I watched the Nat Geo special on this the other day. Apart from the fact that Nat Geo is a piece of cp, I was amazed about the challenges and engineering behind this project. Even more amazing is the fact it captured images of Pluto. The show explained there was a chance the cameras could have faced the wrong direction. And the note about the probe also carrying the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh was touching.

ytdht 11y ago

hopefully they are not taking the pictures ~72 seconds too late

InclinedPlane 11y ago

Two things. In the near future launch prices are going to be much lower, which changes the landscape in exploration and exploitation of space completely. That means that you can get more missions for fewer dollars. It means you can be more adventurous and innovative (since the cost of failure is lower and the time to recover is shorter). Which includes things like making increasing use of advanced propulsion (ion engines, plasma propulsion, etc.) which would enable things like a Neptune orbiter or what-have-you. As to communications, almost certainly there will be a change to laser based communications over long distances. The technology is maturing and once we have the ability to put more infrastructure off-Earth (orbit, etc.) then you can replace things like the DSN with laser based communication hubs in orbit or at L2 or L4/L5 or wherever. They'd take the form of essentially space telescopes with special instrumentation for sending and receiving laser comms. That would make it possible to send and receive at a much higher rate across the entire solar system.

z3t4 11y ago

Cant you just "dock" with the planet, by slowly matching the speed of the moving body using a Hohmann transfer!?

lmm 11y ago
Any change in orbit takes thrust; whether you do it slowly or quickly the required delta-V is the same. New Horizons used a gravity assist from Jupiter to get up to speed, but there's no conveniently placed Jupiter to help it slow down.
JshWright 11y ago
Yes, you could... if you were willing to wait 100+ years.

nightcracker 11y ago

Just to put it in perspective, 72 seconds on 9.5 years is 0.000024% tolerance.