The New Horizons probe is about to be launched, weather permiting. It'll visit the Pluto system and possilblity at least one other object in the Kuiper Belt. It'll examine Pluto, Charon and the two new moons of Pluto.
If they launch by February 2nd, there will be a 2007 Jupiter flyby to get a gravtional assistant to reach Pluto in 2015. If the launch happens after that, there would be no Jupiter flyby, delaying the Pluto flyby to 2019 or 2020.
There is a cd on the spacecraft that has the names of over 430 thousand people, including mine, on it. Wow, my name will go out into interstellar space. :-o
There's some other stuff on it including an American flag and a piece of SpaceShipOne. They'll reveal what else there is after the launch.
It'll also be the fastest spacecraft to be launched, beating Voyager 1, which is now way out there in the heliosheath, on the doorstep to entering interstellar space.
Who knows what will be discovered. :-o
Offical site
Wikipedia
If they launch by February 2nd, there will be a 2007 Jupiter flyby to get a gravtional assistant to reach Pluto in 2015. If the launch happens after that, there would be no Jupiter flyby, delaying the Pluto flyby to 2019 or 2020.
There is a cd on the spacecraft that has the names of over 430 thousand people, including mine, on it. Wow, my name will go out into interstellar space. :-o
There's some other stuff on it including an American flag and a piece of SpaceShipOne. They'll reveal what else there is after the launch.
It'll also be the fastest spacecraft to be launched, beating Voyager 1, which is now way out there in the heliosheath, on the doorstep to entering interstellar space.
Who knows what will be discovered. :-o
Offical site
Wikipedia
