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Mission To Pluto Looks Good To Go

Mr. Anderson

Mr. Anderson

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Nov 1, 2001
22,568
7
VA
http://www.theregister.com/2005/12/20/new_horizons/

I'm actually glad they're going to get this thing launched - I just hope it doesn't become another lost mission, though.

Getting there to see the geomorphic transition due to Pluto's oblong orbit is great - I can't imagine being a scientist on the project and having to wait years before you actually get to see some data - and that's if everything goes perfect.

I have a hard time waiting for my food to heat up in the microwave sometimes.

D
 
Cool. I was surprised at how long they expect it to be there (and keep working)... "yearly checkups" - the Mars Rovers only were expected to last 90 days. But I guess this pluto one won't be moving around.
 
Agent Smith said:
Ahh, but is Pluto a planet or simply a moon?

Oh wait, it's a planet...

http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast17feb99_1.htm

:p
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I don't think that debate is ever going to end - even if they find several Kupier Belt objects that end up being larger :D

Its going to be a long time till we know what's actually out there - but its fun to think that there are dozens more planet sized objects we might not even know about.

D
 
Very cool, thanks for posting this article, I hadn't heard of this mission yet! The timing involved is quite impressive to say the least... :cool:
 
9 years to get to Pluto, thats funny. We really need to break the speed of light.
 
Spock said:
9 years to get to Pluto, thats funny. We really need to break the speed of light.
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Ha! We don't need warp speed, we just need something better than what we have now. Even if they managed to get the ship up to 100,000 MPH it would make a huge difference. The problem, though, is slowing down at the end - so you'd need to bring a lot of extra fuel.

Chemical rockets just aren't going to make long range exploration - but its going to be many years before we see anything else. (Although nuclear would work nicely, but that damn treaty keeps us from blowing things up in space....)

D
 
Mr. Anderson said:
I have a hard time waiting for my food to heat up in the microwave sometimes.
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1 minute at 50% power

OR

30 seconds at 100% power

OR

15 seconds at 200% power (use a radar dish for this one)
 
Mr. Anderson said:
Ha! We don't need warp speed, we just need something better than what we have now. Even if they managed to get the ship up to 100,000 MPH it would make a huge difference. The problem, though, is slowing down at the end - so you'd need to bring a lot of extra fuel.

Chemical rockets just aren't going to make long range exploration - but its going to be many years before we see anything else. (Although nuclear would work nicely, but that damn treaty keeps us from blowing things up in space....)

D
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We're actually going about things the wrong way in this respect, yet do know have the capacity to develop alternate means for this type of travel yet.

Physical travel in space on the whole is infeasible. As you say, 9 years to Pluto, and that's just in our own solar system - what about other systems, other galaxies? Space travel by physical means just will not work. Physical propulsion and the like, nope, that just won't work. How would you even navigate the stars physically? They are all images of what existed several light years ago, so space as we would physically "see" it isn't a correct picture of what currently exists.

We need to break our paradigms surrounding physics, and when we develop and realize what lies beyond physics, that physics is only half of the equation of the universe, and then harness that power and potential, physical distances and the like will be irrelevant and then mankind will truly evolve. :cool:
 
looks like we have another space movie coming up guys.......pluto is really too far to be going out there...yet we cant make it to the moon without screwing up....hope they got a very VERY good ship.


Bless
 
~Shard~ said:
We need to break our paradigms surrounding physics, and when we develop and realize what lies beyond physics, that physics is only half of the equation of the universe, and then harness that power and potential, physical distances and the like will be irrelevant and then mankind will truly evolve.
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That's exactly how I was going to put it!

Anyway, fret not – top science guys are hard at work on super-fast propulsion – it slips you into a different dimension and everything, which as I'm sure you'll all agree is the coolest way to travel through space. :cool:
 
Jaffa Cake said:
That's exactly how I was going to put it!

Anyway, fret not – top science guys are hard at work on super-fast propulsion – it slips you into a different dimension and everything, which as I'm sure you'll all agree is the coolest way to travel through space. :cool:
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Very cool Jaffa Cake, thanks for the link! Definitely looks interesting. although I was thinking something completely different - it involves throwing physics as we claim to understand them out the window and start exploring the higher forms of energy on the mental side of things. Throw physics out the window, look at concepts which do not rely on them, and all of a sudden physical distances, physical measurements, physical attributes, etc. all are irrelevant. Time is a physical measurement as well, at least our view of it, so you might as well throw "time travel" (using the term loosely) into the mix as well. :cool:
 
Geez, didn't these guys at nasa see war of the worlds? Good way to wake up the aliens. Now I have to buy a shotgun and store a years worth of food and beer in my basement.
 
But if they're from Pluto - even the antarctic winters would be too warm for them :p

D
 
mcarnes said:
True, true. Hey, slightly OT, but where is the quote in your sig from? Words to live by.
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Left over from Ye Olde Pirate Days - Cap'n Jack Sparrow to Will Turner in Pirates of the Carribean.

D
 
Mr. Anderson said:
Left over from Ye Olde Pirate Days - Cap'n Jack Sparrow to Will Turner in Pirates of the Carribean.

D
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Arrgh, that's me type of quote! :D

Looking forward to the sequel as well, speaking of that great film.... :cool:
 
If anyone is interested, there is now a "Where is New Horizons" feature on the mission homepage.....it's already traveled over 15 million km since launch !!

....only 4,735,535,714 km left to travel to Pluto as of 23.00 UTC Feb 2 2005 :eek:

....and 794,340,871 km until the Jupiter encounter

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/whereis_nh.php
 
~Shard~ said:
We're actually going about things the wrong way in this respect, yet do know have the capacity to develop alternate means for this type of travel yet.

Physical travel in space on the whole is infeasible. As you say, 9 years to Pluto, and that's just in our own solar system - what about other systems, other galaxies? Space travel by physical means just will not work. Physical propulsion and the like, nope, that just won't work. How would you even navigate the stars physically? They are all images of what existed several light years ago, so space as we would physically "see" it isn't a correct picture of what currently exists.

We need to break our paradigms surrounding physics, and when we develop and realize what lies beyond physics, that physics is only half of the equation of the universe, and then harness that power and potential, physical distances and the like will be irrelevant and then mankind will truly evolve. :cool:
Click to expand...

agreed, of course actually putting these things into play is the tricky part. we have to learn to walk before we can run. i'm thinking superluminal travel is quite a ways off, if even a wise option. (have you people not seen event horizon? :p) anyway, in all seriousness there are other possibilities of travel, very fast and efficient space travel.

google up VASIMR - it's a plasma-based propulsion system and probably our nearest alternative at the moment. good info to be had there.
but for those who (pardon the pun) much reach for those stars, here's something that might cook your noddle a bit. special relativity anyone? interesting ;)

the science channel has a lot of good shows on tuesdays all about the cosmos. it's my favorite night of television. there was a show called "passport to pluto" recently and had some great insight into this mission. set your DVRs :) (assuming the tuesday programming is universal, no pun intended) :p

fascinating stuff "up there" :)
 
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