NASA rocket hurtles on 10 years after 36,000mph launch to reach Pluto
02.02.2016 09:00
Sharp shots of the dwarf planet have been beamed three billion miles back to Earth after the rocket completed the nine-and-a-half year journey last year.
It shot into the sky at 36,000mph – the fastest take-off speed ever – and is still sending data back from its July 14 passage of Pluto last year.
Incredibly, New Horizons is continuing into unchartered territory, and is not expected to run out of steam until the 2030s, by which point it will be 100 times further away from the Earth than the Sun.
New Horizons could be the first spacecraft to make contact with alien civilisations.
Just this weekend, the spacecraft sent images back showing pools of ice water on Pluto’s surface, rather than the frozen ice.
Nasa boffins have spent a decade steering the probe through the solar system and have become "a family”.
Becca Sepan, missions operations flight control lead, said: "The 10-year launch anniversary to me is a time to reflect on how far we have come together as people.
"While we were busy developing command sequences, planning science observations, testing on the simulator, we talked about these major life events and our daily happenings.
"After 10 years it’s hard not to feel like we are an extended family at the New Horizons team.”
In that time, members have married, divorced, had children or grandchildren and bought homes.
But the secrets of Pluto are what the launch was really about, completing the five-decade NASA mission to explore all nine planets in the Solar System.
In just 13 months the spacecraft passed Jupiter, allowing crew to get a close-up look at erupting volcanoes on the Jovian moon lo and lightning near Jupiter’s poles.
The incredible unprecedented shots of Pluto and its moon Charon will be what this is remembered for.
Pluto’s atmosphere containing elements of Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide akin to Earth.
Mountain ranges have been found, with some peaks 11,000 feet above the planet’s surface.
Glaciers have also formed, and are flowing despite the average temperature on Pluto being -240C.
Incredible hazes have been picked up by New Horizons as high as 80 miles above Pluto, in conditions scientists thought were just too warm
Sarah Hamilton, a missions operations team member, said: "Looking at the images of Pluto, it is truly an amazing feeling to know that you helped make that happen.
"When I reflect on the last 10 years it is the team that I think about. The success of this mission truly is a team effort and it’s a privilege to be a part of it.”
(dailystar.co.uk)
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