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Pluto, meet Earth, Earth, meet Pluto

Started by SSOWorld, July 09, 2015, 11:02:50 PM

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SSOWorld

New Horizons passes by Pluto - the former planet Pluto - and photos abound of the other red planet have started to stream in.  Along with Charon, the dark moon.

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20150709

Closest approach of the probe to Pluto is scheduled for July 14.
Scott O.

Not all who wander are lost...
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As a matter of fact, I do own the road.
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intelati49

Well, if you want to be technical about it all, Pluto is a "Dwarf Planet" now. But still immensely cool

formulanone

It's neat to finally see photos of what has always been a complete mystery or just a vague smudge for all those years. It's kind of brownish, which makes it look a bit more "Earthy" than I'd expected, since most of the outer planets are gas giants. And all those satellites (or whatever the technical term is) around such a tiny mass is really interesting to behold.

hm insulators

It's amazing what they have found on Pluto and Charon. Those evenly-spaced dark spots on Pluto's equator, for example, and the heart-shaped region near its pole. And next to no craters at all on either Pluto or Charon. That means active geology.

My late father used to work at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He would've love this!
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hotdogPi

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DeaconG

Quote from: hm insulators on July 16, 2015, 05:38:24 PM
It's amazing what they have found on Pluto and Charon. Those evenly-spaced dark spots on Pluto's equator, for example, and the heart-shaped region near its pole. And next to no craters at all on either Pluto or Charon. That means active geology.

My late father used to work at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He would've love this!

I assisted with the prelaunch telemetry and command checkouts for New Horizons when I worked at KSC (MIL-71).  Was very gratified to see all that hard work come to fruition.
Dawnstar: "You're an ape! And you can talk!"
King Solovar: "And you're a human with wings! Reality holds surprises for everyone!"
-Crisis On Infinite Earths #2

02 Park Ave

How much money was spent to get these pictures?  What was the benefit other than to give the NASA people something to cheer about?

The money could have spent on something more worthwhile, like drilling a hole to the center of the Earth.  We need more knowledge of this planet rather than of a dwarf planet millions of miles away.
C-o-H

Pete from Boston


Quote from: 02 Park Ave on July 17, 2015, 07:27:47 PM
How much money was spent to get these pictures?

$722 million, avoiding any assessment of worth.

SP Cook

IMHO, it is time all nations accept the following realities:

- The commercial use of space for communications, weather and national security observations, etc. is wonderful, and governmental and corporate efforts towards making unmanned launches into orbit less and less expensive and more and more certain should be stepped up.

- A man went to the moon.  And found a dead, lifeless, rock with nothing that has any potential to improve mankind's life in any way. 

- Mars, and all other nearby planets are similar.  Ideas that people are going to live there are science fiction. 

- If Einstein was right about relativity, the idea that people will ever leave the solar system, or that people from another are ever going to visit here, is as well. 

- Placing astronauts in space stations yields nothing remotely worth the expense in terms of science.

- Knowing what Pluto looks like is, well, nice, but did not, and will never, change the life of anyone.  Same can be said of any planet past Mars.

In sum, we have explored all the space we need to.  The money for future such endeavors, should be spent on other forms of science that have an actual potential to accomplish good for humanity.


DeaconG

Quote from: 02 Park Ave on July 17, 2015, 07:27:47 PM
How much money was spent to get these pictures?  What was the benefit other than to give the NASA people something to cheer about?

The money could have spent on something more worthwhile, like drilling a hole to the center of the Earth.  We need more knowledge of this planet rather than of a dwarf planet millions of miles away.

Or building the new Vikings Stadium.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2525348-new-nfl-stadiums-are-costing-a-trip-to-pluto-and-then-some
Dawnstar: "You're an ape! And you can talk!"
King Solovar: "And you're a human with wings! Reality holds surprises for everyone!"
-Crisis On Infinite Earths #2

usends

Quote from: SP Cook on July 18, 2015, 07:37:30 AM
...In sum, we have explored all the space we need to.  The money for future such endeavors, should be spent on other forms of science that have an actual potential to accomplish good for humanity.

I agree that humans may never travel beyond our solar system, and certainly not within our lifetimes.  But there are still many good reasons to explore our solar system (either with probes or with astronauts).  For one thing, what we learn out there has more practical application than you might realize.  But aside from that, there are many other reasons that have nothing to do with economics or technology, but rather more to do with simply being human.  As an example, see this article.
usends.com - US highway endpoints, photos, maps, and history



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