Greece is in a mess. China’s sharemarket is plummeting. Bronwyn Bishop is joyriding in a helicopter. The Aussie dollar is tanking. There’s plenty to be upset about here on Earth.
But 8 billion kilometres away, the New Horizons probe is sending back breathtaking photos of the smallest planet in our solar system after a nine-and-a-half-year journey. NASA scientists built a machine that could travel to the farthest reaches of our solar system, take pictures and send them the 8 billion kilometres back in a matter of hours. Scientists can control the probe remotely despite the unfathomable expanse of space between. And they will be learning more about Pluto for another year and a half, with more images coming through daily.
“It’s like opening up a birthday present every day from now until the end of the next year,” NASA scientist Bonnie Buratti said yesterday.
We at Crikey share her excitement. Space exploration is a testament to human ingenuity, advancements in science and an old-fashioned sense of wonder.
The fact that we are capable of building a machine to send on its own into the vastness of space, to arrive at its destination safe and sound almost 10 years later, should awe and inspire us. That we are finding out new things about our most mysterious planet should thrill us. And the beautiful, fascinating images sent back by New Horizons should excite us.
New Horizons’ journey is not over, as the probe will continue its journey outwards and photograph Pluto’s moons and nearby asteroids. And there are other missions. The twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity found concrete evidence of water on Mars, and Opportunity is sending home new, fascinating data all the time. And NASA is now imagining its next large-scale mission: perhaps to Saturn, or Jupiter’s moon Europa. There is much to explore.
We are capable of amazing things, this human race of ours. More of us should be looking at the stars.
Thank you for that editorial – it made my day!
Yes, an amazing achievement. I teared up a little when I heard that NH had survived its close-approach and apparently has a full set of data to send back. I can only imagine how excited planetary scientists are having a whole new body to study.
When I read about Pluto as a young lad I never thought I’d actually see us send a spacecraft to it. In many ways we have not evolved very much since our ancestors came down from the trees; that makes what we achieved yesterday even more incredible.
A nit-pick – NH is only about 5 billion kilometres away, not 8.
Source: http://www.dmuller.net/spaceflight/realtime.php?mission=newhorizons
Amazing good and bad things.
A great story!
I hope I don’t spoil it by saying that I find it amazing that many people can be awed by the capacity of NASA to achieve such feats of brilliance – but consider their 10 year old “grasp” of science superior to that of NASA when it comes to measuring and explaining what goes on here on earth.
I am, of course, referring to climate change. The NASA web site is an excellent one to use to persuade the deniers that reputable scientists who have a secure job are not spruiking climate science for the heck of it.
The web site also has a lot of readable information, graphics, pictures and information about man made climate change for the genuinely curious.
Thanks again for the article, and for the opportunity for me to say this!
“…the smallest planet in…”
Pluto is a planet again ?