They are launching this rocket at 1:24pm EST. Its powered by 24 POUNDS of plutonium, and they are launching it about 123 miles away.

They say if it blows up in the air, it'll spread plutonium waste over a wide swath over central florida (Orlando, Lakeland (me) Tampa)...

So if something goes wrong, I'll GLOW! (Choc too!) Choc-glow! lol..

Its gonna be a fast launch craft! It'll be past the moon in 9 hrs and to Pluto in 2015! That is FAST!

Would it not be awesome if they could park a Hubble quality telescope near pluto and see if we can find more planets? They said they have found 2 other planetary bodies, yet small, or smaller than Pluto, and are not 'official' planets. (Sedna ect..)

[ 01-17-2006, 12:46 PM: Message edited by: Ziroc ]

Ah, astrophysics...it makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

To be fair...a Hubble-esque telescope orbiting Pluto wouldn't really have that much an advantage over the current Hubble...'tis a shame they're not making a repair run for that thing...it won't live to see this probe at Pluto.

Thankfully, ground-based telescopes are catching up.

Wasn't Cassini nuclear-powered, also? The probe they launched back in...erm...'98 maybe? I remember it from childhood, but would have to look up the date.

Stupid CNN and their coverage of the Golden Globes instead of this probe :(

Hopefully, they'll learn a good deal about the composition of Pluto...any idea what probes they're sending? Will there be a lander? Surely an orbital module that'll map the planet, as that's just a prerequisite.

Needless to say, I'm somewhat excited.

Go to www.nasa.gov and watch it live on free NASA TV! [img]smile.gif[/img] I am!

From CNN, just a moment ago, about the probe:

"Scientists hope to determine, once and for all, how planets and the universe were formed."

HA! I wish it was that simple, that we could just send a probe to Pluto and figure it all out! LOL

[img]smile.gif[/img] yeh, they think the Kuiper belt is the remains of what formed our planets. Hell, for all we know, if could have been a planet that got hit by a 'rogue planet' and smashed into it. It's happened before in other systems they say, so who knows WHAT the Kuiper belt holds...

Windy in your neighborhood also, Z? They just gave the entire country your weather, with 30 mph winds...

I hope that dies down by 12:45. I'd like to see the launch, but I've got an appointment of sorts at the library at that time...

Yeh, its really windy here.. I think they may scrub it for today. (Hope not though) :(

<font color = lightgreen>I'm surprised they're not using an updated version of the ionic drive that is still accelerating one satellite after several years. Currently, it is the fastest-velocity man-made object to date. </font>

I think that the current ion drives are solar powered. There isn't a whole lot of solar energy out by pluto.

There was a NASA effort to use nuclear power to run an ion engine, named Project Prometheus, however funding has all but disapeared.

Cassini, Voyager 1&2, Pioneer 10&11, 6 Apollo missions, and several other NASA projects have used radioactive decay for power. The Martian Rovers used a similar technology to keep themselves warm

[ 01-17-2006, 06:22 PM: Message edited by: Seraph ]

I can't wait till they finally stick a proper nuclear reactor on one of these things. Then our spacecraft will be able to do remarkable things like stopping or turning around.

Great news about the mission though [img]smile.gif[/img]