Scientists celebrate narrow Pluto miss after 10 year journey

Monday is the 46th anniversary of the first time man walked on the moon. Not since the late Neil Armstrong reported back “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” have spacenicks been as enthralled as during the last few days. While most earthlings were caught up in the Greek Tragedy and Chinese Market Crash, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft narrowly (in galactic terms) missed smashing into what used to be the smallest of our solar system’s planets – the one whose name was popularised by a lovably Disney dog. We “lost” Pluto as an official member of the solar system in 2006 when the International Astronomical Union downgraded it to a “dwarf planet”, but that hasn’t reduced the interest. Below is the first ever close-up picture ever of Pluto. – Alec Hogg

Pluto nearly fills the frame in this image from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, taken on July 13, 2015, when the spacecraft was 476,000 miles (768,000 kilometers) from the surface and released on July 14, 2015. More than nine years after its launch, the U.S. spacecraft sailed past Pluto on Tuesday, capping a 3 billion mile (4.88 billion km) journey to the solar system‚Äôs farthest reaches, NASA said. This is the last and most detailed image sent to Earth before the spacecraft's closest approach to Pluto on July 14. The color image has been combined with lower-resolution color information from the Ralph instrument that was acquired earlier on July 13. This view is dominated by the large, bright feature informally named the "heart" which measures approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) across. The heart borders darker equatorial terrains, and the mottled terrain to its east (right) are complex. However, even at this resolution, much of the heart's interior appears remarkably featureless - possibly a sign of ongoing geologic processes. REUTERS/NASA/APL/SwRI/Handout ATTENTION EDITORS - FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS — Pluto nearly fills the frame in this image from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, taken on July 13, 2015, when the spacecraft was 476,000 miles (768,000 kilometers) from the surface and released on July 14, 2015. More than nine years after its launch, the U.S. spacecraft sailed past Pluto on Tuesday, capping a 3 billion mile (4.88 billion km) journey to the solar system’s farthest reaches, NASA said. This is the last and most detailed image sent to Earth before the spacecraft’s closest approach to Pluto on July 14. The color image has been combined with lower-resolution color information from the Ralph instrument that was acquired earlier on July 13. This view is dominated by the large, bright feature informally named the “heart” which measures approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) across. The heart borders darker equatorial terrains, and the mottled terrain to its east (right) are complex. However, even at this resolution, much of the heart’s interior appears remarkably featureless – possibly a sign of ongoing geologic processes.
REUTERS/NASA/APL/SwRI

By Marc Antoine BAUDOUX and Kerry Sheridan of Agence France-Presse

An unmanned NASA spacecraft whizzed by Pluto on Tuesday and survived its close encounter with the distant dwarf planet after a journey of three billion miles (4.8 billion kilometers) and nearly 10 years.

Moving faster than any spacecraft ever built at a speed of about 30,800 miles per hour, the nuclear-powered New Horizons — about the size of a baby grand piano — snapped pictures of Pluto as it hurtled by on auto-pilot.

The photos will reveal details of Pluto never seen before in the history of space travel.

Some 13 hours after the flyby, applause broke out in mission control at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Center outside the US capital Washington, as the spacecraft made its “phone-home” contact with Earth and all systems were reported to be intact.

“We have a healthy spacecraft,” said mission operations manager Alice Bowman.

“We are outbound from Pluto.”

The confirmation eased anxiety among scientists who were waiting all day to find out if the $700 million New Horizons survived the chaotic Kuiper Belt, the region beyond Neptune that Stern has described as a “shooting gallery” of cosmic debris.

NASA had said there was a one in 10,000 chance that the spacecraft could be lost, and all it would take would be “a collision with a particle as small as a grain of rice.”

Truly amazing

The spacecraft passed 7,750 miles — or about the distance from New York to Mumbai, India — from Pluto’s surface at 1149 GMT.

“It is truly amazing that humankind can go out and explore these worlds. And to see Pluto be revealed just before our eyes — it is just fantastic,” Bowman said.

New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern said scientists can now look forward to a “16-month data waterfall” that will help scientists write whole new textbooks about Pluto.

“We have completed the initial reconnaissance of the solar system, an endeavor started under president (John F.) Kennedy more than 50 years ago, continuing today under President (Barack) Obama,” Stern told reporters.

Obama cheered the mission on Twitter.

“Pluto just had its first visitor! Thanks @NASA – it’s a great day for discovery and American leadership,” the US president wrote.

NASA Principal Investigator for New Horizons mission Alan Stern (L) and Co-Investigator Will Grundy (R) hold up an enlarged, out-dated U.S. postage stamp with the words "PLUTO NOT YET EXPLORED", during the celebration of the spacecraft New Horizons flyby of Pluto, at NASA's Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, July 14, 2015. Also attending are APL Director Ralph Semmel (center,L) and Annette Tombaugh, daughter of Pluto's discoverer Clyde Tombaugh (center,R). The flyby, which culminated after almost ten years of flight and over three billion miles, will allow New Horizons to photograph and collect data in the coming months. REUTERS/Mike Theiler — NASA Principal Investigator for New Horizons mission Alan Stern (L) and Co-Investigator Will Grundy (R) hold up an enlarged, out-dated U.S. postage stamp with the words “PLUTO NOT YET EXPLORED”, during the celebration of the spacecraft New Horizons flyby of Pluto, at NASA’s Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, July 14, 2015. Also attending are APL Director Ralph Semmel (center,L) and Annette Tombaugh, daughter of Pluto’s discoverer Clyde Tombaugh (center,R). The flyby, which culminated after almost ten years of flight and over three billion miles, will allow New Horizons to photograph and collect data in the coming months. REUTERS/Mike Theiler

Hallmark in human history

Never before has a spacecraft ventured into the Kuiper Belt.

The spacecraft launched in 2006, the same year that Pluto was downgraded to “dwarf planet” status due to the celestial body’s small size.

New Horizons is the first spacecraft to fly past Pluto and its seven scientific instruments aim to reveal up-close details of the surface, geology and atmosphere of Pluto and its five moons.

Already, scientists have learned from New Horizons that Pluto is 12-18 miles larger than previously thought, with a radius of 736 miles.

Scientists have also confirmed the existence of a polar ice cap on Pluto and found nitrogen escaping from Pluto’s atmosphere.

“This is truly a hallmark in human history,” said the head of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, John Grunsfeld.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said the story of Pluto and New Horizons would be told for years to come.

“I know today we have inspired a whole new generation of explorers,” said the former astronaut.

The spacecraft has enough fuel to carry on its exploration, and Stern said he plans to ask NASA for funding to continue using New Horizons beyond its Pluto mission, in order to study more objects in the Kuiper Belt.

In the meantime, the most detailed pictures yet of Pluto’s surface are to be released by the US space agency on Wednesday, once they are downlinked from New Horizons.

“We haven’t seen anything yet. This is really just the beginning,” said Grunsfeld.

Scientists celebrate narrow Pluto miss after spacecraft’s 10 year journey

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