Post: #1

So NASA's New Horizon's mission will make it's historic flyby of Pluto tomorrow around 8AM or so. As a lifelong pace buff this is a big thing for me! This is the first time anyone will have seen Pluto up close, in great detail, so the importance of the mission can't be underestimated. I've been waiting for this moment since it first became an idea around the late 90s or so and was still called "Pluto Express". The pictures obtained so far are pretty tantalizing:



Looks like there's already a whole lot of interesting geology to be seen. Might even see some geological activity in progress if there's anything going on out there still. It's also encouraging to see (as much as I dislike social media) the amount of public interest the mission is generating. More interest = more missions in the future. This is another step towards the seriously big ones like exploring the oceans underneath the ice on Europa for example.

Who else is anticipating this event? Discuss away!

Post: #2

New Horizons made its flyby, and there were lots of interesting questions raised - everything from black spots on the planet through to seemingly-geometric lines on Pluto's surface.

Me, when it comes to space exploration, I'm hoping that Matt Damon in The Martian is a massive hit in theatres. It'll be a big shot in the arm for a Mars mission if it is, Mars One and idiot bitches who want to make a one-way trip to an extraplanetary monastery aside.

Post: #3

Very excited for this. Always been a huge space nerd, and shit like this makes me feel like I'm a kid again.

Post: #4

Closeup pictures are expected to come down around midnight on Wednesday. In the meantime this is the last composite image of the two bodies together before the final approach began:

Post: #5

I've actually been following/anticipating this for the better part of a year. Remembered hearing something about it years ago, but forgot all about it until I caught a NOVA special at the end of last year that talked all about the mission and the probe/instrumentation and how it would take over 9 years, but reminded me it was going to be there July '15. Watched some live stuff this morning at point of closest approach, and eagerly awaiting tonight/tomorrow when data actually starts getting sent back.

Beyond that however its exciting to think what other things it may discover/see when it goes beyond Pluto and starts exploring more of the Kuiper belt.

Latest pic from yesterday:

Post: #6

This seems to be the best website to get the latest and most accurate info:

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/

I remember watching this thing launch in 2006. It left the pad at about twice the usual thrust/weight ratio to jumpstart it's ridiculous boost. It left the Earth vicinity at 36,000 miles/hour and used only a single gravity assist at Jupiter to get to Pluto "quickly". There was some concern at the time that its tenuous atmosphere was condensing because the eccentric orbit was carrying Pluto further away from the Sun over the next few decades.

The Principal Investigator in charge of the entire mission, Alan Stern, was giving out bumper stickers that read "My other car is on its way to Pluto"

Hoping to see awesome pictures of this alien landscape in the next few months as data trickles back at 1,000 bits/second. Then in the years to come, there will be a flyby of a Kuiper Belt object and we will get even more for the $650 million we spent on this.

Post: #7

Some interesting stuff coming back.

Pluto surface closeup:



Mountains 11,000 feet high which they think are made of water ice.

Cool picture of Charon showing plenty of interesting features:



More stuff to come!