Anthonares

The launch of the New Horizons probe has been extensively covered in the blogosphere, but few, if any, of the blogs have focused on the mission itself. Sure, it’s the first mission to Pluto, and yes, it’s the fastest thing humanity has put up in space, but there’s more to this mission than the glitzy firsts and fastests. You may not be aware that, like the Voyager probes before it (and unlike Galileo and Cassini), the New Horizons craft will not enter into orbit at the Pluto system. Instead it will cruise beyond Pluto after a several month long flyby and head out towards the ever-expanding list of Kuiper Belt Objects. So, while we wait for our children to grow up so they can process the data from the probe once it reaches Pluto, you might enjoy learning a bit about the mission, its instruments, and its history. (image credit: NASA)

The Mission that Almost Wasn’t Continue Reading »