Updates NASA New Horizons Mission Updates

Pluto Mission News
September 8, 2009
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu



New Horizons Reaches Halfway Point Between Saturn, Uranus Orbits

New Horizons sails silently today through another milestone on the way to its historic reconnaissance of the Pluto system, reaching the halfway point between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus. “Only five operating spacecraft have ever journeyed this far, and only one – the storied Voyager 2 mission – still had an encounter planned even farther out,” says New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute. “New Horizons is on its way to the farthest planetary encounter ever.”

For the full story, visit: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/20090908.php.


New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.

 
Does the count of five include New Horizons itself? The only operational craft that I am aware of beyond that distance are Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2, and New Horizons.
 
Pluto Mission News
November 12, 2009
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu



New Horizons Roused for Long-Distance Checkup

Call it a burst of activity between naps: the New Horizons team woke its Pluto-bound spacecraft from hibernation this week for some onboard housekeeping. Click here for the full story, or visit:

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/111209.php



Distance milestone: Tonight, New Horizons will reach 15 astronomical units from the Sun – the equivalent of 15 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. Cruising between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus, the spacecraft is currently speeding toward Pluto at 37,110 miles (nearly 60,000 kilometers) per hour.

Visit the “Where Is New Horizons?” page to follow the spacecraft on its journey to the planetary frontier:

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/whereis_nh.php


New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.
 
I've had this before with your updates. When I hover over the link I get this:
Code:
mhtml:{188F19B6-9F1D-4E0E-8AE0-6CFF966039CD}mid://00000190/!x-usc:http://pluto.jhuapl.edu./overview/piPerspective.php?page=piPerspective_5_20_2009
If I cut/paste the part starting with "http://" into the my browsers address bar, I get the intended link. I'm not sure where you are getting those links from (an html email?) but mhtml does not have wide support: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mhtml

EDIT: I should say that this mission amazes me. Looking at the encounter drawing, the probe will have travelled for nearly 3500 days and in the matter of hours its primary mission will be over.

From the MESSENGER Mission news thread:

None of the links in the above post work, they all have a weird "mhtml" string before the actual url. Here's a bookmarklet that removes that from the links so they work:

Code:
javascript:(function(){var l =  document.getElementsByTagName("a");var str = /mhtml:.*(http.*)/; for(var  i = 0; i < l.length; i++)  if(decodeURIComponent(l[i].href).match(str) != null) l[i].href =  decodeURIComponent(l[i].href).match(str)[1];})();
Copy this to the address bar and press enter, and the links will work.

Edit: Here's one that works with links in the forum's post editor window (inline edit and post preview):

Code:
javascript:(function(){for(var j = 0; j <  window.frames.length; j++) {try{var l =  window.frames[j].document.getElementsByTagName("a");var str =  /mhtml:.*(http.*)/; for(var i = 0; i < l.length; i++)  if(decodeURIComponent(l[i].href).match(str) != null) l[i].href =  decodeURIComponent(l[i].href).match(str)[1];}catch(e){}}})();
With this one, you can edit your post, run the bookmarklet, save the post, and the links will be fixed.

You can also make a bookmark with that code and it will work.
 
Pluto Mission News
December 3, 2009
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu



The PI’s Perspective: Farewell 2009

As the New Horizons team prepares to turn the last page on yet another calendar, Principal Investigator Alan Stern offers a quick look at some recent (and successful) mission events and spacecraft operations, and lays out some plans for early 2010 and beyond.
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/overview/piPerspective.php?page=piPerspective_12_02_2009


NOVA Visits New Horizons

A crew from the PBS science series NOVA visited the New Horizons mission operations center at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory recently to film segments for a program on “The Pluto Files,” based on the book of the same name.
from the Nov. 17 shoot; the episode is tentatively scheduled to air in early March 2010.
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/overview/piPerspective.php?page=piPerspective_12_02_2009_pics





New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.
 
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Pluto Mission News
January 19, 2010
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu


Four Years and Counting

The New Horizons mission team marks four years of flight today – and the Pluto-bound NASA spacecraft is sleeping right through the celebration.

Mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., commanded New Horizons into hibernation last Friday after a 10-day maintenance operation. This week, New Horizons scientists have gathered at APL for their annual meeting – and among the status reports and science planning discussions, expect team members to reflect on the start of New Horizons’ historic voyage.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s been four years since New Horizons was launched because we’ve had so much to do during this time,” says New Horizons Project Scientist Hal Weaver.

Click here for the full story, or visit: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/20100119_ann.php.



New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.
 
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Indeed:
Now 5 more years till Pluto.
 
Pluto Mission News
February 3, 2010
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu



NASA Telecon: Latest Hubble Views of Pluto

NASA will hold a news telecon at 1 p.m. (EST) on Thursday, Feb. 4, to discuss the latest Hubble images of Pluto. These detailed images will help astronomers better interpret more than three decades of Pluto observations from other telescopes. Scheduled panelists are Marc Buie, a scientist from Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado; and Mike Brown, professor of planetary astronomy at Caltech, Pasadena, California.

Check the NASA Web site for a link to the audio just before the event.

NASA News Audio on the Web: http://www.nasa.gov/news/media/newsaudio/index.html.



New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.

---------- Post added at 09:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:33 AM ----------

Pluto Mission News
February 4, 2010
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu

New Hubble Maps of Pluto Show Surface Changes

NASA today released the most detailed set of images ever taken of Pluto. The images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show an icy and dark molasses-colored, mottled world that is undergoing seasonal changes in its surface color and brightness. Pluto has become significantly redder, while its illuminated northern hemisphere is getting brighter.

The Hubble images will remain our sharpest view of Pluto until the New Horizons spacecraft is within six months of its Pluto flyby. The Hubble pictures are proving invaluable for picking out the planet's most interesting-looking hemisphere for the New Horizons spacecraft to swoop over when it flies by Pluto in 2015.

Check out the Hubble image site.

Read the NASA news release.




New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Alan Stern leads a mission team that includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, KinetX, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. For more information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.
 
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/20100617.php

New Horizons’ fourth annual checkout is nearing its mid-point, and continues with a workout for the spacecraft systems, cameras and other instruments that will deliver the first data from Pluto and its moons. Preparations for a small but necessary course-correction maneuver are also on track.
 
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/20100701.php

Course Correction Keeps New Horizons on Path to Pluto

A short but important course-correction maneuver kept New Horizons on track to reach the “aim point” for its 2015 encounter with Pluto. The deep-space equivalent of a tap on the gas pedal, the June 30 thruster-firing lasted 35.6 seconds and sped New Horizons up by just about one mile per hour. But it was enough to make sure that New Horizons will make its planned closest approach 7,767 miles (12,500 kilometers) above Pluto at 7:49 a.m. EDT on July 14, 2015.
 
It's nice to know that a modern Voyager is flying as we speak. Gives a sense of expectation when I know there's a probe on the way to an unexplored planet.

(Also nice to know that someday in 2015, we'll finally have some good realistic textures for Pluto and Charon :lol:)
 
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