If all goes according to plan, by next July we will be receiving detailed data from the outer solar system that tells us about the temperature, geology and atmosphere of Pluto – information that will change how we think about and understand planets.
If all goes according to plan, by next July we will be receiving detailed data from the outer solar system that tells us about the temperature, geology and atmosphere of Pluto – information that will change how we think about and understand planets.
Dr Henry Throop explained the history and projected the future of the mission in a Scifest talk, “New Horizons: NASA’s mission to Pluto and beyond”.
Presently, all we know is that Pluto is “very far away, very cold, very small and very old”, he said.
The excitement in the audience was palpable when he told them that all this is about to change.
On 15 July 2014 the New Horizons spacecraft is set to arrive at Pluto and its closest of five moons Charon.
The spacecraft will spend two years travelling past Pluto and collecting photographic data.
The mission aims to map and characterise the surface of Pluto and Charon, filling the gap in our planetary knowledge.
Throop did not spend much time making predictions about what the findings might be, but he did let on that scientists expect to find more moons and possibly even a ring around Pluto.
Throop said it is unlikely that they will find life on this planet, as it is too cold for anything to survive on its surface.
Professor Makaiko Chithambo, Head of the Physics Department at Rhodes University, said New Horizons will provide significant new knowledge about planetary composition and their physical features.
The spacecraft, the size of a VW Polo and weighing less than half a tonne, took two years to design and a year to build, followed by a year of thorough testing.
The sophisticated cameras on board weigh only 20kg.
This little spacecraft is also incredibly fast: it took only four hours to reach the moon after its launch.
The rocket that launched New Horizons was 60m high and weighed more than 500t, as it had to carry an astounding amount of fuel to propel the spacecraft to move as fast and accurately as it is.
The mission has already sent back new information about the planets it has passed that has scientists drooling.
Chithambo said he has no doubt that the “staggeringly sophisticated” spacecraft will travel past Pluto and its moons, as expected.
When asked about the possibility of the mission failing, Throop said, “There are no back-up plans. We have one chance to go to Pluto and to get it right!”
Join the mission on the official website: www.pluto.jhuapl.edu.
