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Pluto-Bound Spacecraft Ends Hibernation To Start Mission

Posted by samzenpus on from the time-to-get-up dept.

An anonymous reader writes NASA's New Horizons spacecraft awoke from hibernation on Saturday and sent a radio confirmation that it had successfully turned itself back on one and a half hours later. The spacecraft has been traveling for nine years across the solar system towards its destination, Pluto. From the article: "In 2006, with New Horizons already on its way, Pluto was stripped of its title as the ninth planet in the solar system and became a dwarf planet, of which more than 1,000 have since been discovered in the Kuiper Belt. With New Horizons approaching Pluto's doorstep, scientists are eager for their first close-up look at this unexplored domain."

5 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Re:As far as I'm concerned, Pluto is still a plane by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I am not a cartoon character.
    - Pluto, ruler of the underworld

  2. Why is this still on the way? by paiute · · Score: 3, Funny

    When Pluto got demoted, I thought they were supposed to send a self-destruct signal to the probe.

    --
    If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
    1. Re:Why is this still on the way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, you have it backwards. The probe will self-destruct Pluto.

  3. Hibernation by jones_supa · · Score: 4, Funny

    NASA's New Horizons spacecraft awoke from hibernation on Saturday

    Apparently isn't a Linux-based system then...

  4. Re:As far as I'm concerned, Pluto is still a plane by Brett+Buck · · Score: 3, Funny

    How the mighty have fallen. First, a Roman god, 2000 years later, you live in a doghouse and take orders (confusingly) from *another dog* - and a dimwitted country hick dog, at that.