Mission to Pluto set to launch Tuesday

AP ^ | January 16, 2006 | Associated Press

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Launch Date: January 17, 2006
Launch Time: 1:24:00 p.m. EST
Launch Vehicle: ATLAS V 551
Launch Pad: 41

[billorites]

[RedBloodedAmerican]

LOL
But it has to be 7ft tall.

[Sometimes A River]

There was a documentary about New Horizons on last night on the Science Channel.

What I wonder is, what does the Operations team do in the 9 or so yrs it takes to reach its destination? Do they get other jobs?

[mlc9852]

"Pluto, a tiny, icy misfit of a planet -- some say it's not a planet at all"

I learned in school Pluto was a planet. Now it might not be a planet?

[Atlantic Bridge]

Scientists discovered in 2001 that binary objects -- pairs like Pluto and Charon -- litter the Kuiper Belt, and a year later they learned that Pluto's atmosphere undergoes rapid and dramatic global change.

Bush's fault!

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I suppose they get pultiple projects.

$700 million mission should provide scientists with a better understanding of the Kuiper Belt, a mysterious region that lies beyond Neptune at the outer limits of the planetary system

Personally I don't see how this will affect life here. I don't get it. Plus I thought Dems in Fl were bellyaching about Bush budget cuts at NASA last year?

[RedBloodedAmerican]

We are going there to drill for oil.

[dirtbiker]

We are going there to drill for oil.

WHAT? AND DESTROY PLUTO'S PRISTINE AND FRAGILE ECOSYSTEM!!!!!

It sounds stupid even when I say it......

[CPOSharky]

We are going there to drill for oil.

But, but, but, that would ruin the fragile pristine environment.

[CPOSharky]

Darn, you beat me to it.

[agere_contra]

The conventional wisdom is now that Pluto is just a big (the biggest known) Kuiper Belt object. It's pretty small - it's diameter is less than the distance across the North American landmass.

[dirtbiker]

The conventional wisdom is now that Pluto is just a big (the biggest known) Kuiper Belt object. It's pretty small - it's diameter is less than the distance across the North American landmass.

I've heard that too. It's diameter isn't much more than our moon...

[dirtbiker]

Darn, you beat me to it.

Sorry about that, but I couldn't resist....

[Sometimes A River]

Well, it'll take several yrs to get to the Kiper belt.

I don't have a problem with exploration. After all, Thomas Jefferson sent M. Lewis & W. Clark on an expedition, paid for with Gov't funds.

[mlc9852]

Why was it thought to be a planet before? Are students now being taught it isn't a planet?

[doc30]

It's not to preserve the fragile ecosystem - it's to protectr the endangered penguin sanctuary! ANd it's not oil we're worried aqbout, it's dark matter oil!

[mlc9852]

"The core of the problem is this: The International Astronomical Union (IAU), charged with categorizing objects in space, can define everything from an asteroid to a star but has no definition for a planet. Officials never needed one until new discoveries in recent years highlighted the inadequacy and a stark debate began."

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planet_denitions_030227.html

Interesting site.