We have an update from the New Horizons mission, more of a time line of what will be happening. Not many updates come our way and for good reason (I am not in any way complaining mind you), we are in a waiting phase. Consider the spacecraft is moving at almost 1 million miles a day and LORRI (LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager) will only see Pluto and the largest of the five known moons, Charron, as mere “fat” pixels a whole year from now and the spacecraft has been traveling nearly eight years already.
By the time of close approach in July 2015, LORRI would be able to see buildings if it was looking at Earth at the same distance. That’s the plan right now.
The video below is from Science@NASA and is followed by the press release. You can see the video at the YouTube site for Science@NASA.
One of the fastest spacecraft ever built — NASA’s New Horizons — is hurtling through the void at nearly one million miles per day. Launched in 2006, it has been in flight longer than some missions last, and it is nearing its destination: Pluto.
“The encounter begins next January,” says Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute and the mission’s principal investigator. “We’re less than a year away.”