Pluto Flyby in 60 minutes

9 years, 3 Billion Miles!
That's something in anybody's book.
I've always been a bit of a science nerd, so I think this is way cool. Glued to the TV, NASA on the Web. It's amazing the things that have been accomplished in the last 50 years.

Pluto and moon Charon



http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/fi...uto-charon.jpg

for the fuck'tards
The babes(?) of NASA, the women behind the Pluto Flyby

So Pluto is a planet........again!

The chihuahuas and I say let hear it for the dog planet! Woof! Woof! Woof!

I'm awaiting transit of the dog star. Siriusly.

So Pluto is a planet........again! Originally Posted by SOULMANIKE

NASA is calling Pluto a "Dwarf Planet" whatever the fuck that means. Now if it was a Midget Planet, we could always consult our resident expert.


While we have our "Man in the Moon"
Pluto has... well, PLUTO!!

latest photos of Pluto's landscape reveal ice mountains, ice meaning WATER! This is a major find in our solar system.

New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern compared the range to the Rocky Mountains, adding that they provide clues about Pluto’s geology. “The steep topography means that the bedrock that made these mountains must be of H20, water ice,” he said. “We can be really sure that the water is there in great abundance.”

Imagine this... 9 years ago a bunch of NASA nerds sat down and plotted out a course where Pluto would be nearly a decade later. They laid out a course and launched a piano sized satellite in that direction. This week they hit the mark with remarkable precision. After traveling 3 Billion miles, New Horizons grazed by Pluto within 7,750 miles. That's an impressive feat in itself, but factor into the pass by Jupiter, where the NASA nerds performed a slingshot maneuver to alter direction and speed. A space first that can affect the way we travel around the solar system from now on.
Remarkable. Impressive. Yeah its all that, but that was just the trip getting there.
What they found on arrival could affect the survival of mankind.
They found ICE! Frozen WATER!!! "In great abundance"
Recent water shortages in California are just the harbinger of what's to come. As we continue to pollute Earth's water supply, compiled with the over population problem, its not a matter of if we will run out of water. It's when. Oil, Gold, Diamonds will have little value if you're dying of thirst. 100 years from now they will be mining ice on Pluto just like the gold and diamond mines of today. It's a matter of survival.
Just putting things in perspective.
This weeks discovery is HUGE!

AGREED HH!

You do realize they will hopefully releasing the other pictures that will take over a year for them to analyze. I too am a real nerd and very interested in space exploration but was born too late to see planetary mining actually happen. O well hobby ON!

Orbital MechanicsGotta love it !

Orbital MechanicsGotta love it !
I was actually unaware of the name of the maneuver, I like "slingshot". A simple term for a very complex move. Originally Posted by naysaw

looking at the diagram below, the alteration in course is almost unnoticeable. But taking into consideration the distances traveled even the slightest error could mean millions of miles off course by the time the target is reached. Taking into account the Z-plane, doubles the chance of error.
The maneuver requires entering into Jupiter's gravitational pull just enough to affect course, but not so much as to pull it into orbit.
I first saw this done on "Farscape" a great SCI-FI show that incorporated Muppets as aliens. Kirk might have done it too, but not as impressively.
But to apply the physics of this theory into an actual mechanical operation a billion miles from home is quite a feat. Many unknown variables they would have to estimate. The actual distances, the approximate mass of Jupiter. I'm impressed at the outcome.

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