New Horizons late cruise, 500 Millions kms - ~200 million kms |
New Horizons late cruise, 500 Millions kms - ~200 million kms |
Oct 13 2014, 11:32 PM
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#76
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Member Group: Members Posts: 166 Joined: 20-September 05 From: North Texas Member No.: 503 |
I don't think most people realize that we will be the first humans to ever see Pluto. Man, just thinking about that is crazy. You should have been around for the Voyagers spacecraft, and the first close-up views of so many planets and their moons. Completely new landscapes on a yearly basis that had never been seen before by any human in history. You are right. It is mind-blowing! |
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Oct 14 2014, 12:07 AM
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#77
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Member Group: Members Posts: 890 Joined: 18-November 08 Member No.: 4489 |
considering i had just turned 10 by Aug ( v2) and sep (v1 ) of 1977
when the Voyagers launched ..... that era was a "time" the 1976 things and goings on Viking Voyager some of the Mariner missions All the astronomy books i could get my hands on were being OUTDATED by the time that a 8 to 12 year old could read them |
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Oct 14 2014, 12:22 AM
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#78
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8783 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Been seeing new worlds for the first time since Mariner 9.
Never, ever gets old. Not even a little bit. -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Oct 14 2014, 12:33 AM
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#79
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2918 Joined: 14-February 06 From: Very close to the Pyrénées Mountains (France) Member No.: 682 |
Went to Pasadena from France on a B707 to be part of Planetfest 89 for VII Neptune encounter...was to be the last for a loooong time...and here we (nearly) are. Thank you Mr Stern and All...
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Oct 14 2014, 03:41 AM
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#80
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Member Group: Members Posts: 529 Joined: 19-February 05 Member No.: 173 |
Went to Pasadena from France on a B707 to be part of Planetfest 89 for VII Neptune encounter...was to be the last for a loooong time...and here we (nearly) are. Thank you Mr Stern and All... Climber, all- We can;t wait to bring this too you, and to everyone, everywhere... fasten your seat belts! -Alan |
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Oct 14 2014, 03:45 AM
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#81
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Member Group: Members Posts: 813 Joined: 8-February 04 From: Arabia Terra Member No.: 12 |
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Oct 14 2014, 06:56 PM
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#82
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Member Group: Members Posts: 362 Joined: 13-April 06 From: Malta Member No.: 741 |
Is there going to be another planetfest like gathering for the Pluto flyby?
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Oct 15 2014, 11:58 AM
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#83
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 61 Joined: 20-March 10 From: Western Australia Member No.: 5275 |
I'm sure there will be.
Here in Australia, back in the day, Voyager was making its flyby through the Neptunian system. Our ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp) had a 2 hour special. It was evening over here in Western Australia and we had a special public night (Monday) to view Neptune, btw, I'm a member of the Astronomical Society of the South West. So there we are, a tiny blue disc in our telescopes, and on the TV some mind blowing images of Neptune. I've only seen Pluto once via telescope, a 12.5" f6 Newt (superb optics btw). A dot amongst dots. So much looking forward to the flyby. Shame we don't have the delta V for orbit. |
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Oct 15 2014, 05:05 PM
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#84
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
KBO targets for New Horizons (other than Pluto and Charon, of course) found!
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/r...s/2014/47/full/ |
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Oct 15 2014, 05:41 PM
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#85
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Member Group: Members Posts: 408 Joined: 3-August 05 Member No.: 453 |
Question - would the major targeting for such an object be done post Pluto system flyby, or (more propellant efficient, but perhaps more disruptive?) by tweaking the flyby parameters for a gravity assisted course correction?
Airbag |
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Oct 15 2014, 05:41 PM
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#86
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
After the flyby. The science plan for the encounter is locked and loaded.
-------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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Oct 15 2014, 05:52 PM
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#87
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Member Group: Members Posts: 529 Joined: 19-February 05 Member No.: 173 |
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Oct 15 2014, 06:01 PM
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#88
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Director of Galilean Photography Group: Members Posts: 896 Joined: 15-July 04 From: Austin, TX Member No.: 93 |
So, rough back-of-the-laptop calculation has a cruise time to KBO encounter of ~3.5 years. That's assuming constant speed, ~1 billion miles further to go. Here's to hoping a few more pop out of the woodwork!
-------------------- Space Enthusiast Richard Hendricks
-- "The engineers, as usual, made a tremendous fuss. Again as usual, they did the job in half the time they had dismissed as being absolutely impossible." --Rescue Party, Arthur C Clarke Mother Nature is the final inspector of all quality. |
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Oct 15 2014, 06:16 PM
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#89
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
Wonderful news and big congratulations to the team.
Does 'definitely reachable' mean the target(s) can be approached arbitrarily closely? Can we look forward to seeing the selected one in as much detail as Pluto and Charon? EDIT: My question already answered by Emily http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakda...-has-a-kbo.html To summarise - Yes, close range is well within reach fuel-wise, but because the target's orbit will not be as accurately determined as Pluto's it will be harder to optimise the flyby distance perfectly for science. What would have been my next question is also answered. The definitely reachable target is a cold classical KBO. |
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Oct 15 2014, 08:32 PM
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#90
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Member Group: Members Posts: 655 Joined: 22-January 06 Member No.: 655 |
Terrific news! Congratulations to all the team for their indefatigable efforts in finding a candidate KBO.
I can't imagine that funding for a mission extension will be too hard to negotiate come the time A little early for image sequencing discussions perhaps, but assuming the object's orbit can be determined accurately enough, is NH capable of undertaking 'skeet-shoot' (as per Cassini at Enceladus) techniques for very close imaging, given the low-light levels and relative speed at closest approach? |
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