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New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

bbc.co.uk

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Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#111

Post by kohanz »

ringshall wrote: post #101

Interesting note, as of today, the US is the first country to have successful spacecraft missions visit all of the classical planets. There is one big exception, of course: the Soviet Union was the first to have a spacecraft visit Earth, with Spunink. This category is completely arbitrary, especially given that Pluto is now considered a minor planet. Still, it's an achievement of note. Mercury - 1974, Mariner 10 Venu…

Not to shoot the messenger, but it annoys me when these things are viewed through the lens of artificial divisions such as nations. I understand that space exploration has been used as a tool to further many political machines, but it seems silly to me, especially when staring at a picture as beautiful as this from a distance that makes Earth seem so small, to think about the people living on this planet as anything other than humans, rather than citizens of different countries. It just feels divisive where it should really feel uniting. (Kumbaya!)

I really hope we someday get to the point where no one really cares what "country" achieved the next space exploration milestone.

edit: To be fair, I am really heartened when I see how international the teams that do work in the space station generally are. We've come a long way.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#112

Post by iolothebard »

esusatyo wrote: post #98
blakecaldwell wrote: post #83

It kills me we're not gonna orbit Pluto.

It actually makes me hopeful that New Horizons will have a chance to look further on things in the Kuiper Belt. It's a very interesting area that doesn't get much attention.

I was upset about not orbiting Pluto initially but the objects they've identified in the Kuiper Belt are dissimilar so that information will be just as valuable IMO.

We just need to start setting up bases!

ALL YOUR PLUTO BELONG TO US!!!

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#113

Post by Zirro »

pavlov wrote: post #96
oh_sigh wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rosetta/Philae was all over the news a few months ago. Not sure what news sources you read but I saw it everywhere, including cool animations about their lander

Sure. But did you think of it as a European achievement? That's what I was getting at. When news media talks about European integration, it's always with the "Greeks are lazy, Germans are stuck up" style angle that tries to play up national stereotypes. Rarely do we get to read about Europe as a group of people that get together to put spacecraft on comets, and the EU as a project that has brought 70 years of peace t…

Such sentiments are only rarely or not at all expressed in any news I consume. While some media are intentionally sensationalistic and some others aggressively push an agenda, I find that they can easily be avoided with some critical thinking.

To give my answer to your first question - yes, while I did think of it as a European achievement, being impressed that so many countries can come together for a common goal, I was more impressed with it as an achievement for humanity as a whole.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#114

Post by devb »

e0m wrote: post #97

Traveling at 16km/s for 9.5 years would dilate time by almost 300 minutes! Not only is there a 4.5 hr delay because of the speed of light, there's an extra 300 min of relativity correction.

But the transmission time delay is still only 4.5 hours, not 9.5. The onboard clock has simply drifted out of sync with one on Earth.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#115

Post by scrollaway »

kale wrote: post #102
scrollaway wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe Europe would benefit from having a bit more American-style "rah-rah" patriotism around the good old "12 stars on deep blue" EU flag. Something most americans don't understand is how repulsive blatant patriotism is. A lot of europeans, along with their nationality, have a sense of being "european", just like most americans have a sense of being "american" (rather than just "Californian" or what have you). Ther…

What continent are you referring to that has two countries? North America has 23 countries, with the U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico being the largest countries.

Sorry, I meant two other countries and you're right; I have edited to clarify.

My point was centered on borders and neighbouring countries. Do you ever see US immigration politics talking about anything else than Mexico? Canada + Mexico + the US occupy something like 95% of the landmass alone.

Whenever you hear people talk about immigration in europe, we're talking about immigration from generally 5+ other countries, and often enough another neighbouring continent. Each of those countries are so incredibly different from one another it is very hard to put it in perspective with the US.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#116

Post by rootbear »

blakecaldwell wrote: post #83

It kills me we're not gonna orbit Pluto.

In the press conference, the PI was asked about a future mission. He said that he has thought about orbiters and landers and considers the Pluto system to be a valuable science target. But he said that we need to study the New Horizons data for some years, to better design the next mission. At this time, they wouldn't know what the best instruments to send would be. Also, it is far from clear how to send a mission to Pluto that takes a reasonable amount of time to get there (9 years, in the case of New Horizons) but can also stop when it gets there. Cassini took almost seven years to reach Saturn and the orbital insertion burn was something like ninety minutes! I'm not sure how fast it was going at the time, compared to New Horizons at Pluto, but the point is, if you want to get there quickly, you go fast, but then it's hard to stop.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#118

Post by Pyrodogg »

tptacek wrote: post #69
dingaling wrote: post #4

That flag-waving and chanting of U-S-A U-S-A at the point of closest approach was one of the most appalling, jingoistic, alienating spectacles I've ever seen. You'd think they had just planted the flag in the soil ( ice? ) and claimed Pluto for God and America. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Space Race is over. Grow up. You're doing this for all humanity.

Thank you. Thanks to your insightful comment, instead of discussing Pluto and New Horizons, we have an entire thread dedicated to discussing whether "U-S-A!" is toxic jingoism, and because you got so many replies, no amount of downvoting will fix it.

This is one of the biggest reasons why HN needs thread folding. Once the first-loudest voice catches on, it's hard to see the rest of the discussions without distraction.

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#119

Post by pluma »

kale wrote: post #102
scrollaway wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe Europe would benefit from having a bit more American-style "rah-rah" patriotism around the good old "12 stars on deep blue" EU flag. Something most americans don't understand is how repulsive blatant patriotism is. A lot of europeans, along with their nationality, have a sense of being "european", just like most americans have a sense of being "american" (rather than just "Californian" or what have you). Ther…

What continent are you referring to that has two countries? North America has 23 countries, with the U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico being the largest countries.

Most of them are tiny island nations, everything south of Mexico is generally considered "Central America" by everyone else and everybody ignores Greenland (which is technically still kinda part of Denmark).

Comparing the 41(!) countries of North America[0] with the 58 countries of Europe[1] is really comparing apples and oranges.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_countri...

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_...

Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto

#120

Post by tgcordell »

kohanz wrote: post #111
ringshall wrote: post #101

Interesting note, as of today, the US is the first country to have successful spacecraft missions visit all of the classical planets. There is one big exception, of course: the Soviet Union was the first to have a spacecraft visit Earth, with Spunink. This category is completely arbitrary, especially given that Pluto is now considered a minor planet. Still, it's an achievement of note. Mercury - 1974, Mariner 10 Venu…

Not to shoot the messenger, but it annoys me when these things are viewed through the lens of artificial divisions such as nations. I understand that space exploration has been used as a tool to further many political machines, but it seems silly to me, especially when staring at a picture as beautiful as this from a distance that makes Earth seem so small, to think about the people living on this planet as anything…

Competition breeds innovation. Yes, we are one planet and one species, but our species is Human and we have an innate nature to compete!
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