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Atlas 5 Rocket Set to Launch Pluto Probe

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the very-edge-of-the-suburbs dept.

tmerrill writes "An unprecedented mission to the outer edges of our solar system is set to launch in 4 days, despite a launch delay. From the article: 'NASA's first spacecraft to visit the planet Pluto is set to launch no earlier than Jan. 17 atop an Atlas 5 rocket on a decade-long trip to the fringe of the Solar System ... In order to reach Pluto by 2015, the $650 million New Horizons mission must lift off this month in order to swing by Jupiter for a gravity boost. The probe's 35-day launch window, however, stretches until Feb. 14. The launch window opens on Jan. 11. Inspections of the probe's Atlas 5 booster prompted mission managers to push their launch target to no earlier than Jan. 17, NASA officials said.'" The New York Times has details as well.

8 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. More Links to Click by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Informative

    I should start by saying that there's a wealth of information out online about Lockheed Martin's Atlas V.

    The article gave a link to www.space.com but if you want the source of this information, you should go to Spaceflight Now for their informative diagrams. You can get an idea of how the vehicle actually breaks apart to deliver its payload. You can read about how they plan to retrieve the boosters from the ocean, the simulated views of onboard cameras, or previous Atlas launches. This site contains for more information than the one listed in the article.

    If you're interested in payload sizes, check out Wikipedia's entries on this topic or the International Launch Service's documentation of preparation for Atlas V launches.

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    My work here is dung.
  2. The mission by Bad+D.N.A. · · Score: 4, Informative

    Info on the mission can be found at:
    The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
    http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/

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    "Truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations"
  3. Atlas V is a p*ssy rocket by spineboy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Atlas V generates a peak 4 meganewton thrust. The old Saturn V(apollo booster) generated up to 35MN, and could deliver up to 120,000 pounds into low Earth orbit.

    Sigh... were the Moon landings a technological feat, never to be duplicated?

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    1. Re:Atlas V is a p*ssy rocket by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 2, Informative
      This is because the design is based on the fact that a pressurized pop can can support far more weight than an unpressurized pop can.

      The balloon tanks were cool, but they're not used on the Atlas V:

      The newest version of Atlas, the Atlas V, is an Atlas in name alone as it contains little Atlas technology. It no longer uses balloon tanks nor 1.5 staging, but incorporates a rigid framework for its first stage booster much like the Titan family of vehicles.
  4. Probe lucky to be. Race against time. by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Informative

    This probe was cancelled and reinstated multiple times. One congress committe would cancel it and the next one would reinstate it. One reason it finally went thru is that Pluto's atmosphere will soon freeze into nitrogen snow when it gets further from the sun because of Pluto's lopsided orbit. There will not be an opportunity to see the snow turn (melt) back into an atmosphere for something like 250 years from now. Thus, it is now or never. Other planets and moons can wait, but Pluto's atmosphere cannot.

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    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Probe lucky to be. Race against time. by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Informative

      may also provide an opportunity to solve a question that's been vexing many; should Pluto even be counted as a planet or just a small body as part of the Kuiper belt.

      Frankly, spending 800 million USD to figure out how to classify a body is probably not worth it by iself. However, knowing if and why there is a difference between Pluto and other Kuiper objects is definitely a worthy goal.

      Here is more info on the probe's problematic political history:

      http://space.com/spacenews/businessmonday_041004.h tml

      http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/advocac y_and_education/pluto/pluto_campaign_timeline.html

      The stolen "nuke tape" fiasco at the Los Alamos National Laboraty almost delayed or reduced the delivery of the radioactive power cell. I've read later that they met their goal eventually.

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      Table-ized A.I.
  5. Re:Why Pluto? by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Informative

    Shouldn't we be spending our limited budget on something more interesting, like Europa, Ganymede or Titan? They should be easier to get to, from their distance.

    1. Pluto's atmosphere is going to freeze into ground snow pretty soon due to its odd orbit and we won't get another chance for 200 or so years to study the atmosphere. Europa won't be different any time soon.

    2. We've never had a probe explore pluto before, unlike the moons you mentioned.

    3. The probe is planned to explore other Kuiper-belt objects after pluto. The Kuiper-belt objects are generally a mystery. (Some inner moons may be captured Kuiper-belt objects, but we won't know for sure until we compare them to the real deal.)

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    Table-ized A.I.
  6. Re:$650M to go to Pluto? by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Informative

    Can anyone provide what the costs of other probes have been?

    Examples:

    Cassini/Hyugens - About 3 billion USD, some of it by Europe.

    MER Mars rovers - $850 million total

    Viking landers - 2 billion total, probably 4 billion adjusted for inflation.

    It is generally on the low-end of probe costs. However, NASA has cut back of late and most planetary missions are between about $400 million to $800 million these days. The reasoning given is that technology and experience has allowed for less expensive probes.

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    Table-ized A.I.