We're Going to Pluto

[SteveGrenard]

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission.htm


df

[shemp]

Have a good trip Steve. Wave to me as you pass Planet X.

[espritch]

This particular mission is long over due if you ask me. Still, I'm eager to see what it turns up.

[uneasy]

New Horizons is scheduled to launch in January 2006, swing past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February 2007, and reach Pluto and its moon, Charon, in July 2015
That's a long time frame. I really feel for those NASA guys who invest so much time for payoff so far in the future. I don't think I could stand the strain of working on something and hoping it worked for 9 years. The thing will be a technology antique by the time it gets there.

I've always been interested in the oort cloud, and I'm in favor of anything looking out that way. Let's face it; other stars are very far away, so it's possible the oort cloud might be the extend of the human race for a long, long time.


That article did show me that Pluto is a disco mirror ball. I say we shine a bright light on it and all get together to do the hustle and shake our booties at the edge of the solar system.
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/images/pluto_sri.jpg