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NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Sends Back Last Bit of Data From 2015 Pluto Flyby (go.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the every-last-drop dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Space.com: NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has sent back the last bit of data from its 2015 flyby of Pluto. The picture -- one of a sequence of shots of Pluto and its big moon, Charon -- arrived earlier this week at Mission Control in Maryland. It took more than five hours for the image to reach Earth from New Horizons, some 3 billion miles away. New Horizons swooped past Pluto on July 14, 2015. It's now headed to an even smaller, frozen orb in the far reaches of the solar system. That close encounter is targeted for 2019. Mission managers opted to save all the Pluto data on New Horizons' digital recorders, in order to maximize observing time. Only the highest priority sets of information were sent back in the days before and after the flyby, providing humanity's first up-close look at Pluto. It wasn't until September 2015 when the real data transmission began. In all, more than 50 gigabits of data were relayed over the past 15 months to Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. The final data arrived Tuesday, and NASA announced the safe arrival Thursday.

60 comments

  1. Damn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's the longest ping time since winsock!

  2. New.Horizons.-.Pluto.Data.Pack.FULL-NASA.torrent by CanEHdian · · Score: 4, Funny

    What'd you expect with only one seeder? It would take ages to complete.

    --
    When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
  3. Re:New.Horizons.-.Pluto.Data.Pack.FULL-NASA.torren by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    one seeder, and they have a shitty internet connection

  4. Re:Pluto? Who cares! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "anymore"? What does that mean?

  5. Last bit of data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't you need at least a few bytes to have anything useful?

    1. Re: Last bit of data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Depends on what you consider useful... Or few.

      For a long time, ASCII was the default character encoding, and that only uses 7 bits per character.

      You could say 'hello world' over a serial link in 79 bits over a serial link (1 start bit, 7*7 data bits, 1 stop bit)

    2. Re:Last bit of data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm pretty sure it was.

    3. Re:Last bit of data by azcoyote · · Score: 2

      That was exactly my thought when I read the headline. I figured that the download was stuck at 99% and they were just waiting on that one last bit.

      --
      Incipiamus, fratres, servire Domino Deo, quia hucusque vix vel parum in nullo profecimus.
    4. Re: Last bit of data by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      That's more than 7 characters for "hello, world" = 12. Compression or clever encoding could reduce it but then it is no longer ASCII.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    5. Re:Last bit of data by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Was it a 1 or a 0

      0.6382943, bad reception.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    6. Re:Last bit of data by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      One bit is sufficient to hold a binary, like whether it's a planet or not.

      That bit is a 1.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    7. Re:Last bit of data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I, for one, hope it wasn't an evil bit.

    8. Re:Last bit of data by Not-a-Neg · · Score: 1

      It was most likely a 0, I would expect they either used a Ctrl-D "End of Transmit" / "End of Tape" (00000100), or they used Ctrl-Z which used to be for "End of File" (00011010)

      --
      -==- Buy a Mac and leave me alone!
  6. Some of these humans are exceedingly clever by rmdingler · · Score: 4, Insightful
    3 billion miles... NASA's receiving data from Pluto and the New Horizons spacecraft is headed for MU69.

    Meanwhile, at work, we can't get folks to stop clicking email links.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:Some of these humans are exceedingly clever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People shouldn't be able to click links from email anyways. Really that very well might be one of the dumbest ideas ever invented, hyperlinks in email. Why do we always blame the user for this when clearly the issue is crappy email software. At least if the user was required to copy/paste the URL, they might give some thought to what they are doing before doing it.

      Instead IT weenies like yourself are always quick to go HERP DERP DUMB LUSERS. You can't fix people, but you can fix software.

    2. Re:Some of these humans are exceedingly clever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      People shouldn't be able to click links from email anyways. Really that very well might be one of the dumbest ideas ever invented, hyperlinks in email. Why do we always blame the user for this when clearly the issue is crappy email software. At least if the user was required to copy/paste the URL, they might give some thought to what they are doing before doing it.

      Instead IT weenies like yourself are always quick to go HERP DERP DUMB LUSERS. You can't fix people, but you can fix software.

      *1940's newscaster voice*

      "Earlier today, due to people poisoning themselves by drinking contaminated water, the national government has officially outlawed the oral consumption of H2O. From now on, it is expected of each citizen to hydrate themselves through an Intravenous injection. The primary supporter of this bill, Mr. Anonymous Coward, had this to say: "Why do we always blame the water pipes for this when clearly the issue is crappy practices. At least if the user was required to insert an IV into themselves, they might give some though to what they were doing before getting themselves sick."

    3. Re:Some of these humans are exceedingly clever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Why do we always blame the water pipes for this when clearly the issue is crappy practices."

      You know, that is exactly what happened in Flint, Michigan.

    4. Re:Some of these humans are exceedingly clever by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      Or using attachments. It was around 2005 and there was a nasty worm going happening but it needed to be transmitted to a new network (one behind a firewall for example) to get started. Early one morning a higher up manager comes into my work area where there was two of us working. He starts off with some general chit-chat. Eventually he says, "Uh guys, I got a message with an attachment with the name [name of worm]. Should I have opened it?"

      My coworker quickly volunteered to help the manager out while I got on with my work (and trying not to laugh out loud since the managers desk was nearby).

    5. Re:Some of these humans are exceedingly clever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try to get them to use a hotkey combination sometime.

      Press two buttons at once?!? OMG! -head explodes-

    6. Re:Some of these humans are exceedingly clever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Add to the list of sensitive information sent into wrong addresses, unwanted group postings and so on. Email software interfaces deserve a significant upgrade to account for "normal" people.

  7. Re:Pluto? Who cares! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    pluto will forever and always be a *real* planet as far as i'm concerned.. at least up until it is blasted to smithereens by a poorly-aimed illudium pu-36 space modulator.

  8. stupid contracts! by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    In all, more than 50 gigabits of data were relayed over the past 15 months

    sounds like they are stuck on a data plan contract with AT&T. ;)

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  9. Last bit of data by rossdee · · Score: 5, Funny

    Was it a 1 or a 0

  10. Re:New.Horizons.-.Pluto.Data.Pack.FULL-NASA.torren by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Martians and Europans are such leeches! Waiting for the information to reveal that Charon is the perfect training ground for our battlesuited, interstellar army..

  11. 5 hours just to get to Pluto by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    Without being able to move our meat-sacks faster than light, interstellar travel sounds pretty far fetched. Even a probe will require multiple generations to see what's *out there*... Being the eternal optimist I'm sure we'll find a way.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:5 hours just to get to Pluto by KiloByte · · Score: 1

      20th century SF thought it'd be cryonegenics, but I believe biological immortality will be the answer. While stopping aging is, like the cure a cancer, still vapourware despite people promising over and over that "it's close", it's safe to assume it'll be done in no more than 50-100 years. Then, we'll discover some new health conditions that appear only at the age of 200+ and kill people, these will need to be dealt with. Then, a new generation will have similar problems at the age of 1000+. But fast forward a few such iterations and humans will really live forever, accidents, murder and heat death of the Universe notwithstanding.

      Then there's hard AI, which can also be considered a form of earthlings...

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    2. Re:5 hours just to get to Pluto by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      Cryogenics was only ever a temporary measure to get to the real biological stuff.

      In any case, accidents will limit life extension. 20,000 years would be quite the feat, barring phenomenal technology. As the decades fly by, the chance of a massively destructive event approaches 100%.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    3. Re:5 hours just to get to Pluto by KiloByte · · Score: 1

      I don't think anyone would do something as suicidal as today's driving: operating a dangerous machine for hour or more every day while tired/distracted/etc, when a fraction of second of inattention often means death. Heck, even that is going to be reduced by 1-2 orders of magnitude with technology that is almost ready for use. Likewise with planes: we are able to make them a heck more safer, but no one bothers because current rate of accidents is deemed cost-acceptable as you're likely to die soon for other reasons anyway.

      Thus, our descendants will die either because they decided to do so or because someone else decided so.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    4. Re:5 hours just to get to Pluto by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 3, Interesting

      20th century SF thought it'd be cryonegenics, but I believe biological immortality will be the answer. While stopping aging is, like the cure a cancer, still vapourware despite people promising over and over that "it's close", it's safe to assume it'll be done in no more than 50-100 years. Then, we'll discover some new health conditions that appear only at the age of 200+ and kill people, these will need to be dealt with. Then, a new generation will have similar problems at the age of 1000+. But fast forward a few such iterations and humans will really live forever,

      According to Isaac Asimov, that will be the death knell of the human race.

      accidents,

      No one will do anything dangerous anymore. Now we have people risking their lives, willing to chance losing 40-80 years, for the thrill of the moment. When people can expect to live 1000 years, who is going to go skydiving in their first century and chance losing 900 years of life? Those few that do, or who start later, will eventually weed themselves out of the population. Not just skydiving of course, but racing, scuba diving, rock climbing, and other "thrill sports".

      Traffic accidents will eventually be all but eliminated for the same reason. No one will drive themselves, once self-driving cars get to the point of near-complete safety. And many people will stop going out anyway, because those self-driving cars can deliver groceries, clothes, toys, etc. with no need to risk death by going to the store or shopping malls.

      murder

      will happen at times, but again, as time goes on, the people who would perform this activity will be removed from society.

      and heat death of the Universe notwithstanding.

      We'll never survive to see it.

      Then there's hard AI, which can also be considered a form of earthlings...

      More likely than human immortality, but then you have to worry about Skynet.

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    5. Re:5 hours just to get to Pluto by FirstOne · · Score: 1

      Traveling through through space containing the typical atom of interstellar hydrogen per cm^3 at relativistic speeds(0.95C) would result in instant death.

      Even if you were frozen solid, the ice would melt and water around/inside you would boil. Not to mention nearly every chemical bond in your body would be broken. At lower sub light speeds. 0.5C one would still have to deal with many years of accumulated cosmic radiation damage once you were taken out stasis(You're dead).

      Short of some sort of wormhole/warp discovery, travel between stars at best something would require storing memory and conscious digitally, (constantly self repair & correcting) then manufacturing a suitable body at the destination. Or just remain as a machine conscientious, since biological organisms won't survive a intersteller trip intact.

    6. Re:5 hours just to get to Pluto by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have to disagree with you and Isaac.
      I see a future without aging and disease, where everybody dies in horrific accidents.

    7. Re: 5 hours just to get to Pluto by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And I disagree with both of you, I see a world plunged into conflict and war because of rampant overpopulation because no one enforced this rule: if you want to be immortal you can have no kids, no not even one.

    8. Re:5 hours just to get to Pluto by KiloByte · · Score: 1

      You and Asimov are forgetting that diversity of humans is going to increase rather than decrease. Even in a natural ecosystem with abundant contact, speciation occurs at time frames less than 100k years. Interstellar travel implies delays of thousands years even between nearest star systems, and you can't expect a big enough fraction of population to counteract speciation to go back and forth for no reason.

      And we don't even need interstellar travel for that. While in western countries genetical engineering on humans is forbidden for "moral" reasons, I expect non-experimental modifications to humans in less than 20 years in China and in secret US programs.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    9. Re: 5 hours just to get to Pluto by KiloByte · · Score: 2

      rampant overpopulation because no one enforced this rule: if you want to be immortal you can have no kids, no not even one.

      And why do you assume the poor will be immortal? At least initially, the cost of life prolonging measures will be enormous -- and the rich are the ones to set the rules. Do you expect them to make rules that hurt only themselves?

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    10. Re:5 hours just to get to Pluto by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aging is a "feature", not a requirement. Some cells even have this feature turned off. In theory, disabling aging is not difficult, but in practice, it's difficult to properly manipulate mDNA and all of that crap. We're trying to do genetic engineering with statistical models and retroviruses.

    11. Re:5 hours just to get to Pluto by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Traveling through through space containing the typical atom of interstellar hydrogen per cm^3 at relativistic speeds(0.95C) would result in instant death.

      That's a fairly dense molecular cloud, rather than a typical interstellar medium. But the general point is still valid - at relativistic velocities, stationary material is dangerous.

      No, we don't have any technologies that can protect against this material, particularly neutral material.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    12. Re:5 hours just to get to Pluto by Maritz · · Score: 1

      There will be selection of some sort, but it won't be natural selection and it won't be speciation in the traditional sense.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  12. 1 kbit per second by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > 50 gigabits of data were relayed over the past 15 months to Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory

    (50*1024*1024*1024)/(15*30*24*3600) = 1,380.840823

    Aproximately 1kbit per second. For being 5 light hours away, it's a little bit impressive. I have 64kbps something over cellular, just 0.036852161 light seconds away from Washington.

  13. NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Sends Back Last Bit by rickyslashdot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Incredible - - - the greatest feat of NASA's efforts to observe - close-up - the last planet (ooops, planetoid / whatever) - and the highest rating the comments get is a "FUNNY".

    This ranks right up there with the first moon landing, the first Mars Rover, and the Jupiter and Saturn missions.

    Come on, people - this is SLASHDOT - where there are "PURPORTEDLY" semi-intelligent people reading and commenting - - - even the editors deserve a kick in the ass for trivializing this stupendous feat !

    --
    redneck geek
  14. Re:NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Sends Back Last by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

    We got a bit back. It's not historic. It wasn't the first, it was the last. It wasn't from the farthest away. It hasn't been analyzed, just received. There's nothing historic about the bit. Going with your comparisons it's like a dot on the last picture Armstrong & company took of the moon on the way back home.

  15. Re:Pluto? Who cares! by Potor · · Score: 2

    People seem to use "anymore" incorrectly these days, or the meaning is really shifting. My students seem to use it to mean "these days," whereas when I was growing up it had the connotation of "no longer".

  16. Re:NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Sends Back Last by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    *Actually*, the incredible feat is keeping their connection up all this time despite a ping of over 28,000,000ms in the best of times...

  17. Re:NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Sends Back Last by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Take a look here for more REAL info

    http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html
    http://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-horizons-possible-clouds-on-pluto-next-target-is-reddish
    http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/new-horizons-spies-a-kuiper-belt-companion

    OK, so it isn't the fartherest - but the Voyagers couldn't get a 'peek' at Pluto due to the planetary alignment as they did their 'grand dance' of the outer planets.

    Here's a point for you - the middle ages viewed an eclipse as a portent of evil tidings / a demon eating the sun - ALL because the DATA hadn't been evaluated.

    Another issue I have with you is that your comparison is like delegating this mission to the equivalent of the rocket exhaust shutoff puff as a 'fart' in the lunar missions. MASSIVE amounts of data have been acquired about Pluto / Charon, and even more will be received as the mission continues through New Year’s Day 2019 as it passes another Kuiper belt object.

  18. Re:NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Sends Back Last by rickyslashdot · · Score: 1

    OOOPS - modem crashed - installed new one - forgot to log in again - - - Sh!t Happens - Murphy's Law in action

    Take a look here for more REAL info

    http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pa...
    http://www.nasa.gov/feature/ne...
    http://www.nasa.gov/image-feat...

    OK, so it isn't the fartherest - but the Voyagers couldn't get a 'peek' at Pluto due to the planetary alignment as they did their 'grand dance' of the outer planets.

    Here's a point for you - the middle ages viewed an eclipse as a portent of evil tidings / a demon eating the sun - ALL because the DATA hadn't been evaluated.

    Another issue I have with you is that your comparison is like delegating this mission to the equivalent of the rocket exhaust shutoff puff as a 'fart' in the lunar missions. MASSIVE amounts of data have been acquired about Pluto / Charon, and even more will be received as the mission continues through New Year’s Day 2019 as it passes another Kuiper belt object.

    --
    redneck geek
  19. Re:Pluto? Who cares! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    People seem to use "anymore" incorrectly these days, or the meaning is really shifting. ... when I was growing up it had the connotation of "no longer".

    not anymore = no longer

    (so anymore = longer??? As in "Pluto? Who cares? It's just a rock longer." )

  20. Re:NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Sends Back Last by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    this is SLASHDOT - where there are "PURPORTEDLY" semi-intelligent people reading and commenting

    It ain't what it used to be. One comment where "you must be new here" doesn't work...

  21. bits? by SNRatio · · Score: 1

    In all, more than 50 gigabits of data were relayed over the past 15 months to-

    When talking about data transfer like this and assuming you are not trying to sell me something, is there really a good reason to use bits instead of bytes?

    1. Re:bits? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No

  22. For those curious by allaunjsilverfox2 · · Score: 1

    According to google, 50 gigabits equals 6.25 gigabytes.

    --
    Restore the madness of youth's lechery
    1. Re:For those curious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "According to Google" ?

      You mean you were not able to divide 50 by 8 ? I'm not even asking to it in your head, but at least just type it in a calculator ?

  23. Re:NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Sends Back Last by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are thinking of the Slashdot that existed 10 years ago. The world has moved on, the comments have turned into something a little more intelligent than youtube comments.

    This is not the Slashdot you were thinking of.

  24. Joke ahead by Quatermass · · Score: 1

    So, was the last bit sent a 1 or a 0? ;)

    --
    Stuart http://stuarthalliday.com/
    1. Re:Joke ahead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But then, the last byte... was it a 1 a 2... 255 ? Or a 0 or 1 ?

      (Still this open question becomes a question with two degrees of liberties.)

      By the way what was the last Mb/MB?

  25. Re:Pluto? Who cares! by Potor · · Score: 1

    I said connotation, not definition.

    It needs to be used in a negation.

    For instance, "it's not a planet anymore"="it's no longer a planet."

  26. Re:NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Sends Back Last by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

    I think that the mission is great. I didn't compare the mission to anything. I only compared the last bit of data coming back to a dot of a picture from the first moon mission. The first bit of this mission was much more important than this one.

  27. Re:NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Sends Back Last by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Incredible - - - the greatest feat of NASA's efforts to observe - close-up - the last planet (ooops, planetoid / whatever) - and the highest rating the comments get is a "FUNNY".

    Sadly, this has become true for every pure science article. The majority of posts are jokes. And there are just a few dozen posts in all. Mention global warming or the election and there are hundreds of posts. Sad.

  28. Re:Pluto? Who cares! by Maritz · · Score: 1

    If Pluto stays as a planet, we end up with dozens and dozens of planets. Eventually hundreds. That's fucking stupid.

    The difference in definition of planet is that you have to clear out your orbit. That's perfectly reasonable.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  29. Missed it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does anyone else see the two smaller but brighter objects running an orbit in parallel to each other on the left of the primary object in question? The orbit is extremely noticeable.