NASA New Horizons

[FireFox]

 

New Horizons is a NASA probe with the aim to photograph the dwarf planet Pluto and its moons this summer, as of today March 10th 2015 it is currently 0.96 AU (Astronomical Unit) from the dwarf planet. A single AU is approximately the distance between the Sun and the Earth. This is going to be a sweet summer, all of these years and we've only had blurry pictures but soon we will see Pluto in all of its high resolution glory, I can't wait

 

Basically what is going to happen is that it'll fly (or move, not flying in the traditional sense) straight through the system while taking pictures, once its main mission is over it'll head towards the Kuiper Belt with a few objects in mind to also analyse and photograph. I hope we do more like this but the technology needs to improve, we need to be able to do this faster.

 

The probe was launched in 2006 so it has been travelling for over 9 years, I bet the bugger is bored now lol

 

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/Where-is-New-Horizons/index.php

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizons

 

Anyway thought I'd make this thread because I think this is an adventure that everyone should be aware of

 

 

[Sakkura]

And Dawn just reached Ceres 10 days ago. 2015 is a great year for dwarf planet exploration.

[Totallycasual]

Honestly, it boggles my mind that we have the ability to send something hurtling out into space millions of miles away to do our bidding.

[FireFox]

Honestly, it boggles my mind that we have the ability to send something hurtling out into space millions of miles away to do our bidding.

 

Millions of miles is for children, we're into billions of miles

[chimmychunger]

cant wait, also on another space note, 2024 (i think) is the year mars one launches people onto mars to start a colony 

[LabRat]

cant wait, also on another space note, 2024 (i think) is the year mars one launches people onto mars to start a colony 

 

i think it's way too soon for that. and then the insanity of the people who would actually do it when things were right.

[Mr PotHead]

i bet half life three is released on pluto

[GoldSrc]

Millions of miles is for children, we're into billions of miles

Miles is for children, we're into kilometers   .

 

No offense of course, but NASA once lost a probe because a problem with those units.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter

[FireFox]

Miles is for children, we're into kilometers   .

 

No offense of course, but NASA once lost a probe because a problem with those units.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter

 

Good point, metric is always going to be better.