New Horizons Arrives At Ksc |
New Horizons Arrives At Ksc |
Sep 26 2005, 09:56 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 134 Joined: 13-March 05 Member No.: 191 |
NASA Press Release
APL press release Space.com Article Coming up... October: communications checks November: hydrazine loading and Atlas V countdown rehearsal December: integration with Atlas V January: LAUNCH! No pictures on the KSC webcams yet. But still pictures here. Is that the flight RTG attached to the spacecraft? Or just a dummy? |
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Sep 29 2005, 03:46 AM
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#2
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Guests |
Yep, there is no doubt that environmentalism attracts zany fanatics. So, however, does space exploration. And NASA's previous straight-faced official estimates of accident probabilities (one in 100,000 of a Shuttle exploding during launch) are not the sort of thing calculated to bolster public confidence in the agency's competence -- or its honesty.
I myself strongly doubt that there's any danger whatsoever -- even in the event of a high-speed reentry. (The Pu pellets are encased in iridium shells, after all. And when the rocket carrying the Nimbus 3 weather satellite blew up in 1968, the Pu cores in its two RTGs not only didn't powderize, but fell into the sea off the coast of Vandenberg virtually intact, were recovered by a robot submersible months later, and were simply refurbished and flown again on Nimbus' successor the following year.) But there's always a first time; and I myself will breathe a little easier after this thing is successfully launched. |
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