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Pluto Probe Launches
Artem S. Tashkinov writes "The US space agency, Nasa, has successfully launched its New Horizons mission to Pluto. The $700m probe will gather information on Pluto and its moons before - it is hoped - pressing on to explore other objects in the outer Solar System. Pluto is the only remaining planet that has never been visited by a spacecraft."
In 2015 we should get some pretty interesting data back.
Around the year 2000 there was a website that was setup by a teenager who wanted to see NASA send a space probe to Pluto. The website was www.plutomission.com, and it helped start an online petition that gained well over 50,000 signatures. It also started a huge upsurge of public support for a Pluto mission, and in the end helped persuade NASA into making a real mission out of it. Amazing what a simple website can do.
Here's a closeup of the latest photo of pluto taken by Hubble.
Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
From this CNN article, and my buddy Pete at JHAPL, "The New Horizons spacecraft will be the fastest ever launched, more than 10 times faster than a speeding bullet.". That is faster then superman.
For those not aware, had it been delayed past early Feb, the mission would have taken 4 years longer to reach Pluto, due to missing Jupiter for a gravitational 'slingshot' assist.
Roll on 2015. The best images we have of Pluto now are fuzzy Hubble pics, and I can't wait for this to change.
Any comment from the "OMG! Plutonium powered space probes are evil!" people that were hanging little origami birds on a fence outside the launch site? They seemed certain that launching this craft was going to be a disaster. Damn! Now they're going to have to wait for the next one, since neither Cassini nor this new launch have obliged them by crashing into an old growth redwood grove or a daycare center.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
How is it news 9 hours later?
Actually, I LIKE the 9-hour window. That's exactly how long this thing has taken to pass the moon. That's really, really fast.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Gotta agree with you there. I can't stand people that are ignorant enough to protest anything with the word "nuclear" attached to it. Blind ignorance is all that is. They don't even have the most basic understanding of what they are protetsting. They're simply doing it because some hippy teacher during their education told them that they should.
Lemmings.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
Here's to New Horizons, indeed!
[Drains glass, turns over on top of bar...]
One wonders if NH might contribute some data to finally solve the Pioneer anomaly.
having dated a Wiccan years ago.
Whew. Talk about your eccentric orbits! Glad to have you back.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
You have to wonder why, with such a long journey, they didn't try out an ion engine. Sure, it would have cost more, but it would have been able to get there a lot faster. The ion engine has a much higher specific impulse than conventional rockets but are only effective over long range where the engines can be fired continuously. What longer range than Pluto? Plus, include a larger Plutonium core and run several of these.
Sure, it is the fastest probe to escape from the earth, but why not strap on an extra stage and get that baby really cookin!
Now I don't really care what it's powered by and what's on it. But will you and the parent poster apologize if one of these probes do explode on lift off?
I mean it's not like anything NASA does ever goes wrong?
I expect that if it ever does happen you'll either be very quiet, or you'll find someone else to take a cheap shot at.
dnuof eruc rof aixelsid
After hearing how this is a flyby mission and the top speed of this spacecraft, I wondered about the current speed champ, Voyager I. According to some of my back of the envelope calculations based upon New Horizons' estimated top speed after a Jupiter assist and the current position and speed of Voyager I, in 26 years New Horizons will surpass Voyager I as the most distant human made object.
"Me fail English, that's unpossible." --Ralphie
What, exactly would I have to appologize for? the actual radiation exposure would be something like being out in the sun slightly longer than you should without sunscreen. That's not great, but frankly if I was concerned about that, I'd make a point of not living within threat range of the cape.
Get over it.
They are very serious about minimizing the exposure, which is why the teams were deployed, but the actual danger is negligable.
No, I wouldn't "appologize". I have nothing to appologize for, and certainly not to you.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
Just because you're ignorant of major space exploration events doesn't mean the rest of the world is. Take an occasional read of something like The Space Review. Although there's much debate about the planned manned space architecture there's still plenty going on.
How we know is more important than what we know.
The outer planet?
Reavers!!!
Pfft, yeah, I guess.. I mean, if you consider an average speed of 26,539MPH to be fast. If going from LA to New York in 6 minutes is your idea of fast, then sure, this thing is just whizzing along.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
The only image returned by the probe.
I concur, and I see you did notice that in the news there is never or less mentioned a hard number refering to the "real" speed which the launchvehicle had?
.22 rifle I can choose three different types of ammo
.22 ?
;) this rocket was faster than superman, but actually ;)
Anytime they say
"as twice as fast than spaceshuttle"
you mentioned
"10 times faster than a bullet"
From my point of view this "relativism" isn´t good, it teaches especially
non technical people or even kids, not to refer to the hard facts first,
and using a relation to make this fact or high speed seizable in the second,
it also misses out things to mention which could cause huge errors
1.) "as twice as fast than space shuttle"
to escape the earth´s gravity field you need to accelerate to 11 km/s
the space shuttle simply does not exceed this value much, because the space shuttle is an orbiting vessel, not used for space exploration, and using a higher acceleration, puts higher physical stress to the astronauts,
that´s why it´s so _slow_
2.)
"10x faster than the average Joe Bullet"
there is no standard speed for a bullet, for example using my
a.) slow speed
b.) normal
c.) high speed
for example the austrian army´s "steyr aug" had to be modified so
that the bullet is not too fast so usage of the weapon would not violate
international laws.
so which bullet did the speaker think of when he spoke of
"Joe C. Average Bullet" ?
.357 Magnum or one of the three bullets I use in my
But you are right
we are rotating arround the galactical inner core at a speed of 200 km/s
that´s why we lost superman
No, a bunch of "hippies" should apologize for trying to stop good science with FUD based on totally erroneous assumptions about the nature of plutonium power slugs.
Since a space probe's plutonium slug would not actually bring harm in the event of a catastrophic failure, those of us who understand this would have nothing to apologize for even in the event of a catastrophic failure.
Summary: Stupid people should apologize for trying to influence policy according to their stupidity. Smart people should not apologize for trying to influence policy according to their smartitude.
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
In fact, NASA recently finalized the specifications and issued contracts (to Boeing, among others) for the next generation of orbital work vehicles. NASA has stated explicitly that these vehicles will be the testbeds and prototypes for the Lunar and Martian manned mission programs planned over the next ten years or so.
So not only is everything proceeding as planned, but actual physical artifacts are being built at this very moment in direct support of the Mars program.
Some of us think this is very cool, really neat, etc.
Apparently, others prefer ignorance, if it makes it easier to make cheap political shots.
This is exciting science-type stuff! Give the political asshattery a rest, why don't you?
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
in 2015 when the craft reaches pluto it will be greeted by Japanese rocket launched 2010 carrying korean 8-legged-roboAssTroNuts
p.s. How long before we get to the Pegasus Galaxy? I need to ask Thor and the Ori about Intelligent Design. I'm pretty sure they were involved somehow
I love humanity, it is people I hate
Read the first post - what do those that protested against the launch of a Nuclear powered probe have to apologize for? They had a concern and they voiced it - they're in the "land of the free" with a right to "free speech". And what harm did they do?
Do you demand that the operators of coal-fired power plants apologize to the residents of the Black Forest in Germany, the NE United States/SE Canada, etc. for all the damage to arboreal forests caused by acid rain?
Sure, why not? And include all those that drive fossil fuel vehicles and USE the electricity supplied by those plants.
Some accidents happen.
Yes they do. What's your point?
If they had to abort that rocket, it would have been downrange from Cape Canaveral into the Atlantic Ocean. Sure, the COSMOS probe that crashed into Alberta in the 80's spewed some plutonium over some area of a range grazing area, but the world didn't come to a crashing halt now did it?
See that's just stupidity. Did the world come to an end when people started inhaling Asbestos? No. Did their world come crashing to an end? Eventually - in the majority of cases. However, I'm not claiming the world will end or that the use of nuclear material in the generation of power is bad. I am pointing out that people are far to quick to pick on people that are concerned for the environment, simply because one event was a success (which is the subject of the original post and it's reply).
How much more plutonium was induced into the biosphere by the open air detonations of fission weapons in the 50's and 60's (as well as fission-triggered fusion devices)? Again, we're all still here.
Well we should release more then shouldn't we?
dnuof eruc rof aixelsid
While you're researching, you might want to check to see just how readily plutonium oxidizes in the presence of heat. Rapid oxidization, or burning, produces a somewhat different effect than liquifying.
Oh, and the amount of plutonium is roughly a handful.
-h-
Of the fifty odd launches of reactors or RTG's - no fewer than nine have resulted in the radioactive material being returned to earth. This article lists eight failures, but misses a ninth. It's not a pretty record - and it's only by luck that major contamination has been avoided.
A lemming in this instance is someone who blindly repeats something without understanding it. Consider the carefully the walls of your house before casting stones.The RTGs in question here are not just Plutonium slugs.
y /northern_fleet/incidents/31772.html
Remember there have been accidents with them in the past.
During the three mission accidents that did occur, the RTGs performed as predicted. The Transit 5-BN-3 mission was aborted because of launch vehicle failure. The RTG burned up on reentry as designed with the plutonium dispersed in the upper atmosphere. The RTG design was changed shortly after that to accommodate intact reentry. The next accident was with the Nimbus-B-1 that was aborted shortly after launch by a range safety destruct. The RTG was recovered, with no release of plutonium, and the heat sources were reused in later missions
The failure of the Apollo 13 mission meant that the Lunar Module reentered the atmosphere carrying an RTG and burnt up over Fiji. The RTG itself survived reentry of the Earth's atmosphere intact, plunging into the Tonga trench in the Pacific Ocean. The US Department of Energy has conducted seawater tests and determined that the graphite casing, which was designed to withstand reentry, is stable and no release of plutonium will occur. Subsequent investigations have found no increase in the natural background radiation in the area.
In order to minimise the risk of the radioactive material being released, the fuel is stored in individual modular units with their own heat shielding. They are surrounded by a layer of iridium metal and encased in high-strength graphite blocks. These two materials are corrosion- and heat-resistant. Surrouding the graphic blocks is an aeroshell, designed to protect the entire assembly against the heat of reentering the earth's atmosphere. The plutonium fuel is also stored in a ceramic form that is heat-resistant, minimising the risk of vaporization and aerosolization. The ceramic is also highly insoluble.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTG
http://www.ne.doe.gov/space/space-desc.html
http://www.nuclearspace.com/facts_about_rtg.htm
http://www.bellona.no/en/international/russia/nav
Nice information about RTG powered lighthouses
Luck? That's an insult to the engineers who designed those things, and you should apologise. They are professionals, and the reason there hasn't been an accidental release from a US spacecraft is that they were *designed* to survive these accidents. There's nothing magic here. Something that small can be built far far stronger than the minimum requirements. When you do that, to think you're going to have a major nuclear release from a probe like this one is just a bit like saying a stick of dynamite will crack the Earth in half. If you're claiming that the rules of physics are going to be broken, then it's up to you to prove it.
A lemming in this instance is someone who blindly repeats something without understanding it. Consider the carefully the walls of your house before casting stones.
Well, I guess that shuts me up! Oh wait, it doesn't. My walls obey the laws of physics. Do yours?
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
Is affirming and tolerating the protester's right to make themselves heard more troublesome than becoming cavelier about putting plutonium atop giant explosive devices? It isn't a trivial concern - a total dispersal would have instantly spread 80% the average annual radiation dosage across a 65 mile radius. And cleanup would have run $241 million to $1.3 billion per square mile - and recall what the early estimates for costs of the Iraq War were, at that. I'll be worried when people stop protesting, any time the government takes risks - even 1 in 350 risks - with its citizens's health. If it serves no other good purpose, this sort of activism reinforces the government's relationship and accountability to its citizens.
"no fewer than nine have resulted in the radioactive material being returned to earth."
And yet, no major ecological disaster has ensued. Perhaps the danger is overstated?
Wikipedia: Principal investigator Alan Stern confirmed that some ashes of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh were aboard the spacecraft.
Table-ized A.I.
As a matter of fact - this list from Google news shows a pretty even balance between US and the rest of the world in coverage. Blame the Slashdot editor, not the media on this one.
Crow tastes pretty good with Tabasco.
Now, being able to walk around afterwards kind-of puts a limit on things, as did the "returning safely", but just the stopping would have been a piece of cake.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
To enter orbit around a planet you need to be going slowly when you get there, at no more than the orbital speed for the planet. New Horizons will be going at 11 km/s when it flashes by Pluto, snapping pictures like mad, whereas the orbital velocity for Pluto is just over 3 km/s. NH is moving at least 3 times too fast to go into orbit.
If you wanted to go into orbit, you'd have two choices. The first, and most economical, is to launch the spacecraft on an elliptical trajectory that just barely reaches out to Pluto. That gets the spacecraft there with the lowest possible speed relative to Pluto. You still have some braking to do, but it's the least possible. Problem is, the length of such a trajectory is about half the period of Pluto's orbit, i.e. 125 years. Ugh.
If you speed things up by taking a faster trajectory, then you end up with much more braking to do. Then the problem becomes: how do you lose all that speed? If the planet had an atmosphere, and you have good heat shielding, you can do a little aerobraking, which is what's done with Mars. But with an airless world you're stuck with bringing along enough fuel to do almost as much braking as you did accelerating from Earth orbit. So far, that has been very difficult without a very large spacecraft. One plausible hope for improvement is to bring along a real nuclear reactor (instead of just an RTG) which can provide lots of electric power, and then use a high-efficiency ion drive to slow yourself down.
In the good old days, before "faster-better-cheaper", NASA would have made sure it built three or four redundant back-up planets into the mission plan, in case the original planet got downgraded en route.
In many ways it's a pity this is not a Uranus Probe - the headlines would have been fantastic. However we've been there with Voyager 2, so that'll probably have to wait until somone finds a way of mining the helium 3 [PDF] in Uranus's atmosphere.
Seriously though: this mission is great stuff, this pixelized ball is the best picture we've got of Pluto, and it would have been a shame if we couldn't spare a few million dollars to improve it, and get some data on the Kuiper Belt at the same time.
The slingshot technique works because Jupiter is also moving--it's in orbit around the Sun, at about 30,000 mph (48,000 km/hr). When the probe approaches Jupiter from behind, the probe is gravitationally attracted to something (Jupiter) traveling at 30,000 mph, so it speeds up. Relative to Jupiter, you're right, it's a zero-sum game (i.e., the probe does seem to speed up and then slow down again, relative to the planet) but the velocity of concern is the so-called heliocentric velocity, or the velocity relative to the Sun, and that is greatly increased.
Note that there is conservation of energy, of course; Jupiter also slows down in its orbit slightly in response to the energy it adds to the probe, but the amount is unmeasurable due to the mass ratio between Jupiter and the probe. The speedup is therefore considered "free."
Google is your friend; see this page, this page, this page for more information.
Regarding your second question, the probe doesn't slow down again, and does do a very fast flyby. However, we know so close to nothing about Pluto that we don't have to get very close to get new information--for example, the resolution of the New Horizons cameras will exceed that of the best Earth telescopes (including Hubble) for 150 days. (Of course, it will take 4-9 months, depending on which estimate you like, to transmit the data back to the earth at the probe's minimum data rate--which it likely will use at that distance--of 800 bits/s.)
It uses Mongoose-V MIPS R3000 Rad-Hard Processor.
Well, its all semantics. Pluto, Sedna, and a bunch of others are all a new species of critter - several have been discovered, and many more will be. We probably won't call them planets. Pluto will either be demoted from planethood like the first asteroid Ceres was, or it will retain its title only because of tradition.
This space available.
You mean like Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NMRI)? What? You've never heard that with the "N"?
"It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance." - Thomas Sowell
3 Cameras and a bit of plutonium aren't the only cargo onboard the probe.
THE first space mission to Pluto contains an unusual piece of cargo: ashes from the cremated remains of Clyde Tombaugh, the astronomer who discovered the outermost planet in 1930.
"If all the world's a stage, I want to operate the trap door." - Paul Beatty
Funny thing. I was working on the Atlas V av010 launch and up until last week I had not connected av010 with the New Horizons pluto mission. I read on CNN that "New Horizons" was on an Atlas at the cape waiting for launch. I figured that had to be "our" Atlas which was at the cape getting ready to be launched. I work with the telemetry from the Atlas V. I guess I'm like a truck driver. When you ask him what's he hauling he says "A trailor, what else?" Then you ask what's in the trailor and he says "a bunch of boxes I guess, I never look.". I guess if you'd ask one of the people who work on the science instruments on the payload about what was used to launch the spacecraft they say "A rocket of some kind I assume." and they wouldn't even know that the RD180 main engine on the Altas V 1st stage is made in Russia by NPO Energomash in Khimky.