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Where New Horizons is
- orin stepanek
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Re: Where New Horizons is
You can keep up with New Horizons progress here; http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/index.php ![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
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Orin
Smile today; tomorrow's another day!
Smile today; tomorrow's another day!
- neufer
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Phone call for Orin (collect)
Published on Oct 22, 2013Click to play embedded YouTube video.
<<What does New Horizons say when it calls home? Nothing, without the help of software that transforms zeros and ones from New Horizons' computers into images, instrument readings, or useful information on the spacecraft's status. Those datasets are then transmitted to Earth by the telecommunications (radio) system aboard New Horizons. But if our Pluto-bound spacecraft could talk, it would sound something like the 'tune' members of the New Horizons communications team created from actual ranging signals that New Horizons traded with NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) receiving stations earlier this year.>>
Art Neuendorffer
- orin stepanek
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Re: Where New Horizons is
Wow ; cool! Turn your sound lower before playing! I liked it very much Art!neufer wrote:Published on Oct 22, 2013Click to play embedded YouTube video.
<<What does New Horizons say when it calls home? Nothing, without the help of software that transforms zeros and ones from New Horizons' computers into images, instrument readings, or useful information on the spacecraft's status. Those datasets are then transmitted to Earth by the telecommunications (radio) system aboard New Horizons. But if our Pluto-bound spacecraft could talk, it would sound something like the 'tune' members of the New Horizons communications team created from actual ranging signals that New Horizons traded with NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) receiving stations earlier this year.>>
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Orin
Smile today; tomorrow's another day!
Smile today; tomorrow's another day!
- orin stepanek
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Re: Where New Horizons is
Only 5 AU for encounter with Pluto! Did I say only? Let's see that is only 93 million miles (rounded up) times 5 = 465 million miles to go!
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
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Orin
Smile today; tomorrow's another day!
Smile today; tomorrow's another day!
- neufer
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Re: Where New Horizons is
New Horizons's cameras are an order of magnitude smaller than Hubble so it needs to be less than 4 AU to get better pictures of Pluto.orin stepanek wrote:
Only 5 AU for encounter with Pluto! Did I say only? Let's see that is only 93 million miles (rounded up) times 5 = 465 million miles to go!![]()
The Dawn space craft's cameras are an order of magnitude smaller still so Dawn needs to be at least 99% of the distance to Ceres to do better in taking arrival photos (and unlike New Horizons, Dawn will be putting on the breaks heading towards it destination).
Art Neuendorffer
Re: Where New Horizons is
Certainly better than Air Brakes
Re: Where New Horizons is
Only when there is no air, or the roads are slick. (snow/ice/ETC) For dry roads and big loads, you can't beat air-brakes.
To find the Truth, you must go Beyond.
- neufer
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Re: Where New Horizons is
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 29#p119429Beyond wrote:
Only when there is no air, or the roads are slick. (snow/ice/ETC)
For dry roads and big loads, you can't beat air-brakes.
Art Neuendorffer
Re: Where New Horizons is
So, you've had that breaking train of thought already. STOP THATneufer wrote:http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 29#p119429Beyond wrote:
Only when there is no air, or the roads are slick. (snow/ice/ETC)
For dry roads and big loads, you can't beat air-brakes.
![Exclamation :!:](./images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif)
![Laughing :lol2:](./images/smilies/asterisk_laugh.gif)
To find the Truth, you must go Beyond.
Re: Where New Horizons is
For recovering a broken thought train or for long hauls coffee breaks are essentialBeyond wrote:So, you've had that breaking train of thought already. STOP THATneufer wrote:http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 29#p119429Beyond wrote:
Only when there is no air, or the roads are slick. (snow/ice/ETC)
For dry roads and big loads, you can't beat air-brakes.![]()
Re: Where New Horizons is
yes, it's like 40 minutes for the light to go.orin stepanek wrote:Only 5 AU for encounter with Pluto! Did I say only?
Re: Where New Horizons is
(of course, the light itself gets there instantly... but NH would have to wait 1 hour and 20 minutes to see reflected light from pluto)
- orin stepanek
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Re: Where New Horizons is
Orin
Smile today; tomorrow's another day!
Smile today; tomorrow's another day!
Re: Where New Horizons is
Exit 9. I like that.
Lets hope it doesn't turn out to be like Planet 9 from outer space![Exclamation :!:](./images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif)
Lets hope it doesn't turn out to be like Planet 9 from outer space
![Exclamation :!:](./images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif)
To find the Truth, you must go Beyond.
- rstevenson
- Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
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Re: Where New Horizons is
From the New Horizons page I see that it is taking about 9 years for the probe to travel 32 AUs to Pluto. Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to Sol, is about 269,000 AUs from here. So if we could send a probe there at about the same average velocity as New Horizons has achieved it would arrive in the vicinity of Proxima Centauri in about 75,650 years.
We really need to develop faster probes!
Rob
We really need to develop faster probes!
Rob
Re: Where New Horizons is
Yep, I made this calculator once to show how pathetic our space technology is. Btw, that calculator has Prox. Centauri at only 15000 au... 15,000 ± 700 AU according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri waaaait, that's not the distance to Sun. Need to update my calculator!!!
- rstevenson
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Re: Where New Horizons is
One light-year is about 63,240 AUs, and Proxima Centauri is about 4.2 ly from here, or about 265,600 AUs by this calculation. I picked the 269,000 figure off the web somewhere, so I should have checked it. Using 265,600 AUs instead, I get about 74,700 years to get there if our interstellar probe is moving about as fast as New Horizons. Not that we know how to do even that -- yet.
Rob
Rob
Re: Where New Horizons is
updated calculator says that we could get to P.C. in 10 years at only 0.39c (did I say "only"
) corresponding Earth time would be 4.2/0.39 = 10.77 years, quite manageable time spans for both the crew and their relatives.
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- neufer
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Re: Where New Horizons is
If humans are to go (and/or reason rocket accelerations to be assumed)makc wrote:
updated calculator says that we could get to P.C. in 10 years at only 0.39c (did I say "only") corresponding Earth time would be 4.2/0.39 = 10.77 years, quite manageable time spans for both the crew and their relatives.
then the first ~11,000 AU will have to be achieved at about 1g acceleration
But this ~10 months acceleration phase will only tack on an additional ~5 months to the journey.
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/R ... ocket.html
http://spacetravel.nathangeffen.webfact ... travel.php
Art Neuendorffer
Re: Where New Horizons is
Rob, you had me worried there for a moment 75,650 seemed an untenable timespan to make the trip worthy, 74,700 is much more practicalrstevenson wrote:One light-year is about 63,240 AUs, and Proxima Centauri is about 4.2 ly from here, or about 265,600 AUs by this calculation. I picked the 269,000 figure off the web somewhere, so I should have checked it. Using 265,600 AUs instead, I get about 74,700 years to get there if our interstellar probe is moving about as fast as New Horizons. Not that we know how to do even that -- yet.
Rob
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Re: Where New Horizons is
If such a technology could be created, we would do better with a constant 1g acceleration for 1/2 the trip then a 1g deceleration for the other half. No more ravages of time in zero gneufer wrote:If humans are to go (and/or reason rocket accelerations to be assumed)makc wrote:
updated calculator says that we could get to P.C. in 10 years at only 0.39c (did I say "only") corresponding Earth time would be 4.2/0.39 = 10.77 years, quite manageable time spans for both the crew and their relatives.
then the first ~11,000 AU will have to be achieved at about 1g acceleration
But this ~10 months acceleration phase will only tack on an additional ~5 months to the journey.
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/R ... ocket.html
http://spacetravel.nathangeffen.webfact ... travel.php
- neufer
- Vacationer at Tralfamadore
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Re: Where New Horizons is
After multiple gravity assists the 5,600 kg Cassini spacecraft finally left the Earth/Moon system just ~3 km/s shy of Solar System escape velocity. Presumably a Saturn V could place a 47,000 kg spacecraft into a similar (near solar system escape velocity) trajectory. Such a 47,000 kg spacecraft could (given an effective Xenon ion exhaust velocity (Ve) of 29 km/s) launch a ~800 kg interstellar probe that escapes the solar system at a velocity of 120 to 150 km/s = a relative velocity vis-a-vis α Centauri of 140 to 170 km/s. Such a probe could reach α Centauri (or Barnard's star) in from 7700 to 9400 years near to their closest approaches.rstevenson wrote:
One light-year is about 63,240 AUs, and Proxima Centauri is about 4.2 ly from here, or about 265,600 AUs by this calculation. Using 265,600 AUs, I get about 74,700 years to get there if our interstellar probe is moving about as fast as New Horizons. Not that we know how to do even that -- yet.
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Art Neuendorffer
- neufer
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Re: Where New Horizons is
If you were just to accelerate for the whole trip (instead of only the first 11,000 AU) for a simply flybyBMAONE23 wrote:If such a technology could be created, we would do better with a constant 1g acceleration for 1/2 the tripneufer wrote:If humans are to go (and/or reason rocket accelerations to be assumed)makc wrote:
updated calculator says that we could get to P.C. in 10 years at only 0.39c (did I say "only") corresponding Earth time would be 4.2/0.39 = 10.77 years, quite manageable time spans for both the crew and their relatives.
then the first ~11,000 AU will have to be achieved at about 1g acceleration
But this ~10 months acceleration phase will only tack on an additional ~5 months to the journey.
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/R ... ocket.html
http://spacetravel.nathangeffen.webfact ... travel.php
then a 1g deceleration for the other half. No more ravages of time in zero g
it would reduce makc's transit time by a factor of 3 but it would require about 24 times the amount of fuel.
And to actually do what you suggest would not only take twice as long as the simply flyby
but would require about 135 times the fuel for a simply flyby
(and ~3,250 times that for makc's ~10 year flyby).
Art Neuendorffer