Spacecraft Bound For Pluto

[Bromptonboy]

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/spacecraft-bound-pluto-set-awake-years-launch/story?id=27285504

A spacecraft is set to awake from hibernation soon as it prepares for its upcoming close encounter with Pluto.

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NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is set to awake on Dec. 6 from the last of its 18 hibernation periods and prepare for its initial approach towards Pluto, which will take place on Jan. 15. The spacecraft is scheduled to come as close as 6,200 miles from the surface of Pluto on July 14, 2015 -- the closest any man-made object has come to the dwarf planet. The mission marks the first visit outside Neptune's orbit to the Kuiper Belt, which consists of Pluto and thousands of objects that have not yet been identified, according to Spaceflight Now, a space news website.

"This is the first look at this new zone of rocky, icy planets," Michael Buckley, a public information officer for John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory told ABC News. "This is what New Horizons is supposed to do."

New Horizons is currently 2.9 billion miles from earth and was launched in January 2006 atop an Atlas V rocket. Pluto at the time was still considered a planet, with scientists later that year voting to demote its status to that of a dwarf planet.

PHOTO: A Hubble Space Telescope image released by NASA in 2006 shows Pluto and three of its five moons.UIG/Getty Images
PHOTO: A Hubble Space Telescope image released by NASA in 2006 shows Pluto and three of it's five moons.
The spacecraft has over the last nine years frequently gone into hibernation for various amounts of time ranging from 36 to 202 days, all of which adds up to five years in total, to help conserve power and allow scientists time to make plans for its exploration in space. It transmits a beep once a week to alert scientists that it is still functioning properly. Once awakened on Dec. 6, New Horizons will transmit radio signals that will reach the Mission's control center, located at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, in about four hours at 9 p.m. eastern time.

PHOTO: An artists concept shows the New Horizonss Spacecraft approaching Pluto.SSPL/Getty Images
PHOTO: An artist's concept shows the New Horizons's Spacecraft approaching Pluto.
Scientists plan to use the next six weeks after it wakes to check its memory, navigation and other functions, starting the observation phase in January, taking photos and measurements of the dwarf planet and its moons while also observing its atmosphere and how it interacts with the sun.

"This is really quite an epic journey," Alan Stern, the lead investigator for the New Horizons mission from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., told Spaceflight Now. "Three billion miles across the entirety of our planetary system, from the inner planets to the middle solar system to the third zone -- the Kuiper belt -- and for the first time. No voyage like this has been conducted since the epic days of Voyager, and nothing like it is planned again."

PHOTO: Members of the media garbed in protective uniforms view NASAs New Horizons spacecraft on Nov. 4, 2005 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Bruce Weaver/AFP/Getty Images
PHOTO: Members of the media garbed in protective uniforms view NASA's New Horizons spacecraft on Nov. 4, 2005 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The observation period will continue until April, with scientists predicting to have very clear imagery of the planet and its surroundings by May, better than those of the Hubble Space Telescope. New Horizon's will transmit the information throughout 2015 and most of 2016, ending transmission late that year, according to Spaceflight Now.

Scientists are hoping that NASA will continue to fund and extend the mission to allow for further exploration.

"The hope is that it will encounter one other Kuiper Belt object," Buckley told ABC News.

[davekill]

I remember reading about the launch back in '06
This flight really booked, it reached the moon in just nine hours and after gravity assist along the way, is traveling at 9000 mph - that's about mach 12  :superman

[Bromptonboy]

Yes, I think they said (in 06) it was the fastest moving human made craft.  Should be fascinating!  Wonder if Pluto will suffer another demotion from this!

[Jen]

I'm glad they're checking out Pluto. Pluto needs some love, especially after it's initial demotion. Crossing my fingers all goes well.

[Bromptonboy]

I loved it in the Big Bang Theory when Sheldon meets Neil DeGasse-tyson - and criticizes NGT for demoting Pluto.  :)

[davekill]

A new song 'Oh Pluto' on youtube in celebration of the July 14th flyby.
https://youtu.be/ALrHiQnkcpc

[Bromptonboy]

Hah!  :)

[Rico]

Great pic Dave!
(Is that your scope?)

[davekill]

Thanks Rico, yes an 8" reflector (C8-NGT).
I use a SkyScout handheld GPS device that slews the scope for locating..  as easy as point and click. :)

This flyby of Pluto puts a capstone on our first exploration of the solar system.
Looking forward to high rez photos of Pluto and Charon in a couple more weeks and the further mysteries they are sure to reveal!

[Bromptonboy]

great scope!

[davekill]

Oh great, the ground controllers almost break New Horizons as it's about to begin it's Fly-by mission.

They were uploading the agenda for the next nine days while also telling it to take some early snap-shots of Pluto and Charon. It blinked out, went into safe mode and lost contact.. Ack!

New Horizons is recovering now and may get a late start as it gets it's feet back under it.

http://www.space.com/29863-pluto-dark-spots-new-horizons-photos.html

[Bromptonboy]

Ahh!

[davekill]

As the New Horizon's epic mission to Pluto nears completion, the now daily reports contain surprises like 'the whale and heart features on Pluto's rust-red surface'
along with the often repeated mission statistics - 'the piano size probe in flight about as long as Rico has been podcasting' :D

[Bromptonboy]

2 more days!!!