While not exactly
archaeology, at least the New Horizons craft is still generating data about our
history. The dwarf planet and the Kuiper
Belt which lies beyond are a relics of solar system’s formation. From these we will learn a great deal more about
the early stages of our own plant’s existence – and thus, our own.
Amazingly, the New
Horizons craft was launched on Jan 19, 2006.
It swung past Jupiter at more than 50,000 mph and received a ‘gravity
boost’ in February 2007, passing close by Pluto on Tuesday of this week – a mere
60km closer to the planet than had been planned – not a bad margin for a 9 year
mission!
Messages take 4 hours and 25
minutes to reach earth and apparently it is going to take up to 16 months for all
of the data captured in the ‘Pluto fly past’ to be downloaded to computers here
on earth!
Operations manager Alice
Bowman confirmed that New Horizons' solid state recorder should be full of
data. "The expected number of
segments on that recorder had been used. That tells us that that data has been
collected on the spacecraft," she explained.
Click here for a great clip
showing the excitement at mission control.
Click here for more info can be found
at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory dedicated site.
You can see some great stuff from NASA if you click here
So, what have we learned so
far?
Well, that first that we can get a
spacecraft to out reaches of the solar system!
Secondly we have learned that Pluto appears more topographically diverse
than was previously thought, though I have seen no suggestions of why – apart from
a vague indication of underlying plate techtonics. Thirdly Pluto is red rather than blue. Fourthly, Pluto is apparently larger than was
previously thought. Fifthly, Pluto’s
surface is covered with large areas of nitrogen ice.
Click here to “Meet the
other red planet”
….and finally….
It is too easy to take this stuff for granted!! WOW!
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