Posted on 09/25/2015 12:15:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
It’s interesting, the planet is much farther out than Jupiter and Saturn, and yet the stream of data from a single flyby will far exceed the amount learned in all the first visits of the gas giants, combined.
Well then you tell me.
Do you think that his atheism was being pounded over your head on every episode at least every 5 minutes or so?
Or was that just me...
Come to think of it - yes.
OK. Thanks. I guess I’m not crazy. LOL.
It’s just a shame it’s so far off that they couldn’t send a rover, too, to land on its surface. I’d love to know what Pluto’s made of. But just getting to see it this close is exciting. I don’t think anyone expected what we’ve seen.
I just wish my dad had lived long enough to see it. We were both excited when they woke up New Horizons from hibernation and looked forward to seeing the images. Sadly, he passed away the beginning of June so just missed it.
That’s a good idea, a rover, now that the fly-by has yielded so much new information, a rover is at least feasible, it’ll be a long, long time before it gets there though, I’m afraid. The probe was on, then off, then on, then off, then back on, and different proposals were approved, then rejected, etc; timing was crucial because the received opinion at the time was that the atmosphere was going to freeze.
The way things are with NASA these days, I won’t hold my breath on a rover sent by them. Maybe the ESA will attempt it though. I don’t know how things stand with that agency these days regarding putting money into these ventures. But even if someone does send one, I doubt I’ll live long enough to see the results. I’m no spring chicken any more. Dang the luck.
It's all orange peel. ;-)
NASA is the most likely to send it, but such a rover would have to rely on both greater artificial intelligence and a much more capable and smarter orbiter than anything that could be build now. Also there’s no way to operate using photovoltaic technology, it’ll have to run off a nuclear “battery” or a fuel cell.
Yep. And it all boils down to we’ll have to be satisfied with these awesome images that New Horizons sent, and I am. There have been some amazing ones so far and I keep checking for more each day.
Maybe somewhere down the road, they’ll come up with the technology to pull off a rover for Pluto. Someone’s probably already grinding brain cells on the idea. There’s absolutely no way I’m the only person who’s curious enough to want one sent out there. :-)
Next phase will be an orbiter. That’ll be on the order of 20 years from now, even if it is currently in the planning stages.
The reason I mentioned the ESA as possibly being the ones to do it is because they sent Rosetta and Philae to Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Maybe a joint effort would speed up the process to get a rover on the way to Pluto a little sooner.
A nice dream to have any way.
We'll probably see a Kuiper Belt / KBO / TNO mission before another Pluto-specific mission -- a small family of probes to study the outer Solar System.
I wouldn’t have a complaint about that. There’s so much out there in space to explore and it would be fun to see some of it at least.
Time will tell.
My guess is (this has been in there a while, and I've droned on about it before) is that there are a number of planets beyond Pluto, but they move in retrograde, not unlike most of the outer minor moons of Jupiter. A probe could be the key to finding out one way or another.
And that’s a guess I can’t find argument with. And wouldn’t it be cool to find more?
The bottom line will be funding for any such probes. It’s a pretty safe bet the desire to find out is there.
It’s a bit of a race between those who build better orbital telescopes and those who like a close-up look.
Define: atmosphere.
L
My preference, for sure, especially after these fabulous close-ups of Pluto.
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