New Horizons: Pre-launch, launch and main cruise, Pluto and the Kuiper belt |
New Horizons: Pre-launch, launch and main cruise, Pluto and the Kuiper belt |
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#1501
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![]() Member ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 133 Joined: 29-January 05 Member No.: 161 ![]() |
Yes it's happening after all these years, the mission to the last planet!
And maybe to celebrate the confirmation of budget, NASA approval preparations and the fueling of the RTG (radioisotope thermoelectric generator), there is an updated web site at http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/ Launch will be January 2006 with arrival at the Pluto Charon system July 2015 (mark your calender!) and then on through the Kuiper belt during 2016-2020 and beyond. 20.8-centimeter telescope for 100m resolution at closest approach IR/UV spectrometers 2 x 8GB data recorders data rate: 768 bps (sic) to 70m DSN 465kg including fuel $650m 336 days to launch -------------------- |
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#1502
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![]() Member ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 701 Joined: 3-December 04 From: Boulder, Colorado, USA Member No.: 117 ![]() |
In the early days there would have been a lot of tidal interaction- the pair probably formed in a giant impact much closer together than they are now, and then moved apart, with Pluto slowing to synchronous rotation with Charon in the process. Once everything synchronized the tidal stresses would relax and any fracturing and heating would cease, as Doug says, but it's possible we'll see the effects of the early tidal evolution on the surface of Charon at least, perhaps as a system of fracture patterns. On Pluto my bet is that subsequent activity will have erased any such traces, but I could be wrong.
John |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 18th June 2024 - 06:17 PM |
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