Reaching for Pluto: NASA Launches Probe to Solar System's Edge
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NASA’s first probe bound for the planet Pluto and beyond rocketed toward the distant world Thursday after two days of delay due to weather.
A Lockheed Martin-built Atlas 5 rocket flung the New Horizons spacecraft spaceward at 2:00 p.m. EST (1900), sending the probe speeding away from Earth at about 36,250 miles per hour (58,338 kilometers per hour)– the fastest ever for a NASA mission. The probe should pass the Moon at 11:00 EST (0400 Jan. 20 GMT) on a nine-year trek towards Pluto.
'The United States has a spacecraft on its way to Pluto, the Kuiper Belt and on to the stars,' said New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern during a post-launch press conference. 'I have July 14, 2015 emblazoned on my calendar.'
Initial reports indicate that the probe is in good health. Grounds stations received their first signals from New Horizons at about 2:50 p.m. EST (1950 GMT), which showed the spacecraft’s radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) – which uses heat from decaying plutonium dioxide to generate power – is online and performing as expected, mission managers said.
NASA’s first probe bound for the planet Pluto and beyond rocketed toward the distant world Thursday after two days of delay due to weather.A Lockheed Martin-built Atlas 5 rocket flung the New Horizons spacecraft spaceward at 2:00 p.m. EST (1900), sending the probe speeding away from Earth at about 36,250 miles per hour (58,338 kilometers per hour)– the fastest ever for a NASA mission. The probe should pass the Moon at 11:00 EST (0400 Jan. 20 GMT) on a nine-year trek towards Pluto.
'The United States has a spacecraft on its way to Pluto, the Kuiper Belt and on to the stars,' said New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern during a post-launch press conference. 'I have July 14, 2015 emblazoned on my calendar.'
Initial reports indicate that the probe is in good health. Grounds stations received their first signals from New Horizons at about 2:50 p.m. EST (1950 GMT), which showed the spacecraft’s radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) – which uses heat from decaying plutonium dioxide to generate power – is online and performing as expected, mission managers said.
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