Slashdot Mirror
Pluto Plans Progress
akiaki007 writes: "Here is an article on NYTimes (free reg.) that talks about the late discussions about how NASA is going to be spending their money. Looks like the decision to send a craft to Pluto has been made final. January 2006 has been set for the launch date. Pluto's atmosphere is expected to freeze around 2020, so this is the last chance to make any type of observations on the planet we will get until about 2200."
this is amazing
I wish I could read the article though.
I'm a big retard who forgot to log out of Slashdot on Mike's computer! LOOK AT ME.
Probably nothing but ice and iron. Maybe some silicon and sulphur, but not much else. Venus or Jupiter's moons would be much more interesting, IMO.
We'd probably also find some spam from kilgore bashing the U.S. up there. It seems to be everywhere nowadays.
to what I said. ;)
Remember, there were no nuclear weapons before women were allowed to vote.
I was unable to read the article, but for you who were able to, does it mention anything about possible travel time and any new technologies being used? Personally, I think it would be exciting to see a plasma rocket power this probe. Chemical rockets (and solar sails) would be too slow, but Antimatter is too far ahead. Also, will they use the same nuclear power generators that they used on Cassini? It really made me mad, how everyone was protesting, saying it would blow up and leak radiation everywhere.
Kyle "DotCom" Lynch
...I need some cheeze-its...
I'm a nerd, no doubt about that. I like space and science as much as the next guy but I'm also cheep. My question is this: Why spend our money on a Pluto probe when we could put it towards getting ourselves to Mars or the Moon?
Has anyone thought of this from a cost/return perspective?
Blaze a trail to the New World
After canceling its own efforts in September 2000, NASA last November chose a team led by the Southwest Research Institute and the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory to design, build and operate a reconnaissance mission to Pluto at a cost of $546 million, including projected inflation. Continuing on to explore a Kuiper Belt object would cost an additional $73 million.
After spending $546 mil they've got to spend the $73 mil to look at the Kuiper Belt. I mean I need to know if it will go with my suit!
http://www.boulder.swri.edu/pkb/ will get you to the New Horizons mission website.
It will be a lot more than 5 years before we can go any faster. What advancements have you seen lately? Every satellite that has gone into deep space (deep space in current terms) has been boosted by a conventional rocket and left to coast for a decade or two. The exception is Deep Space 1, which was the same except for its ion engine. The ion engine supplied a few grams of thrust for many many months, which did make a significant increase in speed.
There are problems involved in a Pluto mission though. It is damn far away, and that means carrying a lot of gas for the ion engine. That means a lot of mass to carry with you, which means you need that much more fuel to push the fuel you are already using. And as you get really really far from the sun, you can't get much energy from it anymore, so you had better hope you have enough speed to make it. I think that if we wait for better ion technology to develop, we would loose any benefit that we would have gained with ions. I am all for alternative propulsion, though.
Don't Bogart the fish sticks
If I don't check out what's at the bottom of my closet before the top shelf spills over I may not have another chance again. Not sure if there's anything there, but this is my only chance. I better go soon, forget what else I have to do. This seems silly to me.