cnn.com — NASA today is scheduled to launch New Horizons, a plutonium-powered probe that will go up to 47,000 miles per hour during a 10-year journey to capture the first up-close images of Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. The probe will go so fast, it will get to the moon in just nine hours, a journey that took Apollo 11 three days to make in 1969.
Jan 17, 2006 View in Crawl 4
mr_gatesJan 18, 2006
It could also get to mars in just under two months! I dunno about you guys, but bushes plans seem a little weak, I think men on mars my 2012 would have been a little more ambitious.
berkanaJan 18, 2006
The article is mistaken, I suspect. It says that the plutonium creates heat to fuel a battery. I don't think any batteries are fueld by heat; even thermovoltaics can't put out that much electricity to power an ionizing rocket. If anything, the plutonium is going to be used for betavoltaics.And as much as I am an environmentalist, I believe the environmentalists freaking the hell out about plutonium are mistaken on this one, as well as about the Cassini probe.
berkanaJan 18, 2006
Let's just hope this probe doesn't miss the mark or malfunction or get lost like many of the other multi-million dollar lost probes of years past.
berkanaJan 18, 2006
Okay, I was mistaken. It turns out that they are using a thermoelectric generator.
durrokJan 18, 2006
I'm personally going for a major in pot smoking with a minor in drinking
Closed AccountJan 18, 2006
Fastest anal probe!
jokitoroyoJan 18, 2006
We need protesters in space for this. "Alright hippies into the airlocks. Spacesuits??? You don't need no freaking Spacesuits!!!" /presses the shiny red button
nozol03Jan 18, 2006
Looks like they are calling this launch off for today -<a class="user" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060118/ap_on_sc/pluto_mission;_ylt=ArhyoshhoD.WBQEo262Zqpys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MzV0MTdmBHNlYwM3NTM-">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060118/ap_on_sc/pluto_mission;_ylt=ArhyoshhoD.WBQEo262Zqpys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MzV0MTdmBHNlYwM3NTM-</a>