Weekly Space Hangout - Sept 11, 2015: New Horizons Pluto-Palooza!

TL;DR

Pluto New Horizons Mission is sending back groundbreaking data about Pluto and its moons.

Transcript

well hey everybody Welcome to the weekly space hangout for Friday September the 11th 2015 our return from the summer Hiatus I'm Fraser Kane publisher of universe today and this week we have arrayed an enormous group of guests to talk about a a topic that's very special to all of your hearts so I'm going to introduce uh some of the special guests fi... Read More

Key Insights

• 🙂 New Horizons is sending groundbreaking data about Pluto and its moons, shedding light on their geology and atmosphere.
• 🎟️ The mission's extended goals include studying Kuiper Belt Objects and potential future flybys.
• 💁 Data transmission and analysis prioritize vital information and redundancy to ensure data integrity and thorough exploration.

Questions & Answers

Q: How much data has New Horizons sent back from its flyby of Pluto, and what discoveries have been made so far?

New Horizons has sent about 5-6% of the science data back, with discoveries including detailed images of Pluto's surface, mountain ranges, and atmospheric haze layers.

Q: How does the New Horizons team prioritize data for transmission to Earth, and why are there multiple similar images taken?

Data is prioritized into three groups based on importance, with repetitions of images for backup. This ensures data integrity in case of transmission issues and allows for thorough analysis.

Q: Are there plans to visit another Kuiper Belt Object after PT1, and how much delta-v fuel is remaining on New Horizons?

Plans to search for another flyby target after PT1, with remaining fuel of about 36 kilograms for potential future missions.

Q: What is the significance of the potential discovery of new moons in Pluto's data, and how likely is it to occur?

Discovery of new moons in the data could provide insights into Pluto's system formation, with ongoing analysis and data scrutiny potentially revealing new satellites.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• New Horizons mission team discusses post-flyby discoveries and ongoing data analysis.

• Significant progress made in understanding Pluto's geology, atmosphere, and moon systems.

• Plans for extended mission and future Kuiper Belt Object flyby discussed.