Why Scientists Are Over the Moons About the Pluto Flyby
In the 13 minutes it will take you to watch the video above, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft could get from New York to Kenya, India or China. It is moving that fast. And on the morning of Tuesday, July 14, after nine and a half years hurtling forward at 31,000 miles per hour, it will pass Pluto.
If you want to understand how the mission came to be and why it is such a big deal, we recommend sitting down with a cup of tea or glass of wine and watching this documentary. Here are a few quotes you may want to keep in reserve for conversation lulls at future summer barbecues:
NASA planners are counting on Pluto’s moon, Charon, to clear away debris that could do severe damage to New Horizons.
“If the spacecraft were hit by something even the size of a rice pellet, it could pierce into the spacecraft, and potentially cause it to stop functioning. It would be like colliding with a brick at 60 miles an hour.”
—Dr. Stern
New Horizons will only get one shot at studying Pluto.
"So the key defining characteristic of this mission is that it’s one shot, you know, one flyby. It’s very fast, it had to be fast to get there in a reasonable amount of time. And so we want everything to go flawlessly, right, the first time. The only time. "
—Mark Holdridge, New Horizons Encounter Mission Manager
New Horizons fast is a whole other level of fast:
“It took the Apollo astronauts three days to get to the moon. The New Horizon spacecraft passed the moon in nine hours.”
—Carter Emmart, Director of Astrovisualization, American Museum of Natural History
Why Scientists Are Over the Moons About the Pluto Flyby In the 13 minutes it will take you to watch the video above, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft could get from New York to Kenya, India or China. It is moving that fast. And on the morning of Tuesday, July 14, after nine and a half years hurtling forward at 31,000 miles per hour, it will pass Pluto.If you want to understand how the mission came to be and why it is such a big deal, we recommend sitting down with a cup of tea or glass of wine and watching this documentary. Here are a few quotes you may want to keep in reserve for conversation lulls at future summer barbecues:NASA planners are counting on Pluto’s moon, Charon, to clear away debris that could do severe damage to New Horizons.“If the spacecraft were hit by something even the size of a rice pellet, it could pierce into the spacecraft, and potentially cause it to stop functioning. It would be like colliding with a brick at 60 miles an hour.”—Dr. SternNew Horizons will only get one shot at studying Pluto."So the key defining characteristic of this mission is that it’s one shot, you know, one flyby. It’s very fast, it had to be fast to get there in a reasonable amount of time. And so we want everything to go flawlessly, right, the first time. The only time. "—Mark Holdridge, New Horizons Encounter Mission ManagerNew Horizons fast is a whole other level of fast:"มันเอาอพอลโลนักบินอวกาศสามวันเพื่อไปดวงจันทร์ ยานอวกาศขอบฟ้าใหม่ผ่านดวงจันทร์ในเก้าชั่วโมง"— Emmart คาร์เตอร์ Astrovisualization อเมริกันพิพิธภัณฑ์ประวัติศาสตร์กรรมการ
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