SpaceX Rival Successfully Launches 3D-Printed Rocket Into Near-Space
On July, 14, 2015, at 7:49:57 a.m. EDT, New Horizons (and NASA) made an incredible achievement, passing at its closest point from Pluto and performing an historic flyby. After 9 years of interplanetary travel and about 5 billion km travelled, the fastest spacecraft ever launched has effectively completed the exploration of the Solar System.
“We have completed the initial reconnaissance of the Solar System, an endeavour started under President Kennedy more than 50 years ago.” (New Horizons’ chief scientist Alan Stern)
Expectations have been building up in these last months, while the tiny yet powerful probe has beamed down to Earth increasingly detailed imagery (and it’s going to do so for another year or so. For the full sequence of LORRI images so far downloaded, see this).
While there’s a lot more in terms of images and details that have yet to reach Earth, a series of discoveries have already been made in these last months, changing radically our understanding of this remote planet. Pluto has a surprising red colour like Mars, a rocky surface, an atmosphere and puzzling surface features, including polar caps and (probably) impact craters.
But LORRI (New Horizons’ camera) took imagery of Pluto’s five moons too. Charon, the biggest of its moons, presented surprises as well. If Pluto reminds us of Mars, Charon looks a bit like Mercury. It looks like a world of chasms and craters of various size, with the most pronounced one – in the southern hemisphere – being longer and deeper than the Grand Canyon.
“We knew from the time we designed our flyby that we would only be able to study the small moons in detail for just a few days before closest approach. Now, deep inside Pluto’s sphere of influence, that time has come.” (New Horizons’ Chief Scientist Alan Stern)
New Horizons made history, but the mission is by no means over yet. First of all, we still have to find out how well the spacecraft survived the flyby. Dust and meteorite strikes are potentially destructive for the probe, that has already experienced an unexpected glitch (luckily without consequences) a few days ago. Then, New Horizons will keep on going, setting its course to explore the Kuiper Belt and (again) promising additional discoveries.
Photo Credit: NASA
About the author
Stephen P. Bianchini is a statistician and a social scientist working in higher education. Based in rainy UK. Passionate about astrophysics, space security, SF and technical diving. Blog: http://earthianhivemind.net/ Twitter: @SPBianchini
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