One 'cool' mission of NASA!

[intakexhaust]

Terrific read on a really cool mission:

Three billion miles and nine-and-a-half years from Earth, NASA’s New Horizons probe is racing toward a historic July 14 flyby of Pluto.

New Horizons began its long journey on Jan. 19, 2006, blasting off atop the most powerful version of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.

The lightest payload ever launched by an Atlas 5, a rocket normally used to boost heavy spy satellites and large NASA payloads into orbit, New Horizons was propelled to a record departure velocity of 36,000 mph — 10 miles per second — fast enough to cross the moon’s orbit in just nine hours. It took the Apollo astronauts more than three days.

New Horizons crossed the orbit of Mars less than three months after launch, raced through the asteroid belt and got to Jupiter in a record 13 months for a velocity-boosting gravity-assist flyby that shaved 3.7 years off the trip.

READ ALL: NASA probe finally on Pluto’s doorstep | Spaceflight Now

[onewhippedpuppy]

Really incredible stuff. I took two orbital mechanics courses during my engineering curriculum, the people that plan out these missions are in a totally different league of genius.

[GH85Carrera]

It really puts into perspective how big the solar system is. That is the fastest ever man made moving object and it takes that long to get there. And at the speed of light the radio takes hours to get back to earth.

It's fifty times faster than a speeding bullet.

NASA'S Juno Mission spacecraft will slingshot around Earth towards Jupiter, accelerating to 25 miles per second along the way and becoming the fastest man-made object in history. A .50-caliber bullet travels at about half a mile a second, by contrast -- nowhere near the blistering speed of Juno.

[Hawkeye's-911T]

Maybe should be in the "Cool Science Story of The Day" thread(??)

[Bugsinrugs]

The genius of these people is incredible. Landing on a comet! What the h-ll?

[dad911]

Meh, why bother since Pluto isn't even a planet anymore....

[M.D. Holloway]

The vastness of space is unreal. There was a video circulating which had the viewer travel at the speed of light from the sun to the distance planets. Took awhile. I guess if we were never visited by UFOs I would understand. Its a big place out there. A big very cold place...space. Makes ya feel kinda lonesome yet safe at the same time knowing we have a planet to call home. Wish we took better care of it.

[M.D. Holloway]

If You Could Tour The Solar System At The Speed Of Light, It Might Look Like This

[sc_rufctr]

^^^ Hate to disagree but we do take care of our planet it's just that the vandals get all the press.
There's lots going on right now that's very positive and there are vast areas that are untouched by man.

----------

Incredible... I've been following this for some time. After Pluto we'll also see some other larger objects. That should be very interesting.

[Rickysa]

First pic!!!


New Horizons Returns First-Ever Photo of Pluto's Surface | WIRED


(I couldn't resize it for upload )

[sc_rufctr]

Spectacular... We should have higher res photos soon.

[sc_rufctr]

Pluto and its biggest moon, Charon compared to Earth.

[rattlsnak]

Originally Posted by M.D. Holloway

If You Could Tour The Solar System At The Speed Of Light, It Might Look Like This

That is crazy... The time from Mars to Jupiter alone puts the vastness/distance into some kind of perception!

[intakexhaust]

This entire mission is just fantastic. Mars is such a focus but this mission is just as remarkable. Sort of reminds me of the late 1960's. With all the World's problems and conflicts but then we had the glimmer of hope from the Apollo missions.

Surely hope Americans could be proud and appreciate this current event, perhaps spend a moment with some kids and inspire.

Its going to take some time to analyze and depict, but should be out of this World

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by intakexhaust

This entire mission is just fantastic. Mars is such a focus but this mission is just as remarkable. Sort of reminds me of the late 1960's. With all the World's problems and conflicts but then we had the glimmer of hope from the Apollo missions.

Surely hope Americans could be proud and appreciate this current event, perhaps spend a moment with some kids and inspire.

Its going to take some time to analyze and depict, but should be out of this World

I couldn't agree more...

Stuff like this reminds us of the greatness we have within. If we can do something like this anything is possible.

[intakexhaust]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Pluto and its biggest moon, Charon compared to Earth.

Peter- Not sure if you're aware of the freebie / open source WorldWide Telescope
but lots of fun to play around with, also display on a large screen TV or integrate with a telescope.

[sc_rufctr]

Thanks for the great link.

[intakexhaust]

^ Cheer's!

That program gets deep as one could ever wish, especially for something free. If your PC has the horsepower and graphics, its awesome.

The kids are intrigued and I've set it up for them in an easy control method with an X-box wireless game controller thru a laptop, dual monitor to the large screen TV. They get crazy with the space fly around but after awhile they begin to explore and read more into it. Best part is telling them its the real deal, not some Treki game.

[ckissick]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Spectacular... We should have higher res photos soon.

Is that Pluto on Pluto?

[Brillo]

It was quite an experience watching the mission team live on NASA TV as they awaited reacquisition of signal and then each sub team reporting "nominal" values.