Space Probe Launched to Pluto

[FunkyNige]

It's on BBC News 24.

edit - they're going to show it taking it off, but the BBC website is showing it all the time live.

>> Edited by FunkyNige on Tuesday 17th January 20:14

[Eric Mc]

Scrubbed

[eharding]

FunkyNige said:

edit - they're going to show it taking it off

Oh no they're not

Still, if everyone on PH had taken the £1 bet, and the
thing had flown, I'd be in a bit of a pickle

[jmorgan]

Bother. Wind.

[eharding]

The shots of mission control show a lot of the stations
still using CRT monitors...is this because

a) CRT is still regarded as more reliable than LCD?

b) Better response time so that when the launch is
aborted, NASA TV turns off and they all go back
to playing Unreal?

c) they have a big room to heat?

[Eric Mc]

On again for tomorrow.

[jmorgan]

Light the blue touch paper................. dragging out again.

[ErnestM]

Wind isn't so bad today...

ErnestM

[Eric Mc]

Looks like it's going to happen.

[jmorgan]

He he. Like those figures. One minute 6500 miles an hour, next minute, almost literally, 9800 miles an hour.... and rising.16,234 mph now after 9 minutes.

[Eric Mc]

Needs to achieve 17,500 for orbit and then 37,000 mph to move on out towards Jupiter.

[FunkyNige]

Eric Mc said:

Needs to achieve 17,500 for orbit and then 37,000 mph to move on out towards Jupiter.

Read somewhere today that doing a slingshot round Jupiter will knock 6 years off the mission time!

[Eric Mc]

It will. Because it will gain a huge amount of additional speed due to the gravitational slingshot. If they had launched after February 14, they would have lost that opportunity.



>> Edited by Eric Mc on Thursday 19th January 22:46

[jmorgan]

The opportunity for the gravity assist? Extra 5 years on the time if they missed the window I thought.

Anyhow, link to this thread in ten years time?