"Radioactive decay," eh. Sounds like I ought to have known that they weren't, as Shamrock said, proper nuclear reactors. I'll have to do some research!

You typically can't pick up enough energy from a solar cell from say Jupiter on out.

It appears that they'll launch it today instead.

[ 01-18-2006, 05:33 AM: Message edited by: Stratos ]

Yeh, the Decay is what causes heat, inturn creating power for the batteries.

I wonder if they ever sent a probe to yer anus? I hope not.


[img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] yeh.. deja vu

I don't think we realise quite how fast.

If it arrives on 16th Jan 2015, in 78840 hours, and Pluto is at closest 2,700,000,000 miles away, then that rocket is doing:
34246 miles per hour
571 miles per minute
9.5 miles per second

wow.

Distance to the sun = speed of light x 8 min
= ( 3 x 10 ^8 ) x ( 8 x 60 )
= 1.44 x 10 ^ 11

Angular velocity = 2 x pi / seconds in a year
= very small

Speed of earth = 30000 metres / sec (very approximate)
= 18 miles / sec

Everything on such a scale is damn impressive...

Wouldn't worry about the fallout, Z. It is reckoned that to be killed by a 'dirty bomb' (same principle as a radioactive spaceship blowing up) you'd have to be in the area for a good few score years.

smokin!! wow, I was unaware of a launch, I gues sI should come out into the day light once in a while :D

I don't think we realise quite how fast.

If it arrives on 16th Jan 2015, in 78840 hours, and Pluto is at closest 2,700,000,000 miles away, then that rocket is doing:
34246 miles per hour
571 miles per minute
9.5 miles per second

wow. </font>[/QUOTE]To put that in perspective, a jet flying across the atlantic ocean flies at approximately 550 mph, and takes 8 hours or so from Detroit to Paris. In this critter, it'd be there in about 8 minutes....

The Concord only went about 2000 MPH or thereabouts... still far, far slower.

W.O.W.

I don't think we realise quite how fast.

If it arrives on 16th Jan 2015, in 78840 hours, and Pluto is at closest 2,700,000,000 miles away, then that rocket is doing:
34246 miles per hour
571 miles per minute
9.5 miles per second

wow. </font>[/QUOTE]Yep! Faster than a bullet. Yeh, when I heard how soon it would be, I was like "WOW! thats a blink of an eye cosmologically speaking! It's gonna use Jupiter to slingshot as well, to pick up some speed.

It went off today! See ya in 9 years [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img]

I miss hearing the shuttles sonic boom... wonder when they will launch again? I mean, the boom is so loud, I think a semi hit the house once. It goes "BOOM,BOOOOOOM" Even freakier at NIGHT when you don't expect it. hehe