Posted on 07/18/2015 2:44:26 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: It took 9.5 years to get this close, but you can now take a virtual flight over Pluto in this animation of image data from the New Horizons spacecraft. The Plutonian terrain unfolding 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers) below is identified as Norgay Montes, followed by Sputnik Planum. The icy mountains, informally named for one of the first two Mount Everest climbers Tenzing Norgay, reach up to 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface. The frozen, young, craterless plains are informally named for the Earth's first artificial satellite. Sputnik Planum is north of Norgay Montes, within Pluto's expansive, bright, heart-shaped feature provisionally known as Tombaugh Regio for Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
I knew wire service photographs had been done. I read Homer_J_Simpson’s WW2 threads. To me, that was the easy part. The hard part of the lunar orbiters was the onboard remote development and handling of the film in a small spacecraft in the harsh environment of space a quarter of a million miles away from the closest human being. And each orbiter ran over a hundred photos.
At a time when success or failure of a space probe leaving earth orbit was fairly chancy, all five Lunar Orbiters functioned perfectly without any major malfunctions. The Lunar Orbiter program was an unknown triumph.
Even the places called ‘plains’ are rugged.........................
Done with Pluto, New Horizons will drift in endless sea of space
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article27339385.html#storylink=cpy
‘Private company retrieving civilians from space’: Should be in there somewhere.................B^)
Ah, but that’s where they make their big money — the trip up into space is free...
Here’s why it takes so long to beam data back from Pluto
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-it-takes-so-long-for-new-horizons-to-send-images-2015-7
More in depth:
Talking to Pluto is hard! Why it takes so long to get data back from New Horizons
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/01300800-talking-to-pluto-is-hard.html
It definitely was, must have been pretty narrow film, too, those probes weren’t that big. That’s probably an example of NASA spending resulting in technology used on Earth, like pens that write upside down and Tang. ;’)
Can you imagine the ‘Lost Luggage’ stories in the future??
Passenger: I want a ticket to Luna City, but I want my luggage to go to Mars.
Ticket Counter Agent: I’m sorry sir, we cannot do that. Regulations.
Passenger: Well you didn’t have a problem with it last week!..................
;’)
I *loved* those. :’)
dear red,
IF, the only article that you can quote is that one, and nothing from any of the NASA briefings of last week, and you cannot sit still for the one coming this Friday, you are terribly misinformed.
The mission of the New Horizons space probe has been designed to continue gathering information from Pluto and its moons through the summer of 2016.
All these space probes mentioned in that article are not ‘drifting’, which means they are just floating, with no trajectory, no set course, like a kid’s balloon in the air.
They are all travelling at over 28,000 miles an hour. They have been plotted to a particular course, and yes, designed to go outside our Solar system. The radioisotope powerplant has a 30 year life span, so there will be many years of information left.
Like this? 
you say that like it is a bad thing?
Works for me!
Hell no, I’m all for it! “Please. Mr. Spaceman, won’t you please take me along/I won’t do anything wrong...’’
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