"Von Fourche" wrote in
nk.net:



I was a little surprised to hear that we are sending a vehicle to
the
planet Pluto in a few days. I'm also surprised that it's supposed to
reach Pluto in almost ten years - as early as 2015.

Now, I know Pluto is way way way out there from the Earth.
Doesn't it
take like eight minutes for sunlight to reach Pluto?

No, that's Earth. Sunlight takes 4-5 hours to reach Pluto.

I thought
sending something to Pluto would take hundreds of years, not one
decade.

Pluto is currently near perihelion, and about as close to the sun as
Neptune. Voyager 2 reached Neptune in 12 years, using multiple gravity
assists. New Horizons will only use one gravity assist, but it's a much
lighter spacecraft than Voyager and so its launch vehicle can send it
much faster.

So, what do you think? Pluto is supposed to be made of mostly ice
isn't
it? Some people don't even consider Pluto a real planet, right? You
think it's worth sending something way out there to Pluto?

Regardless of whether Pluto remains a "planet" (an arbitrary term
anyway), it's one of the largest of the Kuiper Belt objects and its
surface has probably remained mostly unchanged since the birth of the
solar system. It has a thin atmosphere that will freeze out soon as it
moves further from the sun, so now is a good time to visit.

Also, New Horizons will be traveling at super fast speeds. You
think it
would be possible to have a space craft with astronauts go as fast as
New Horizons will go?

New Horizons weighs less than 1,000 lb. It's a lot easier to launch a
tiny spacecraft at high speeds than a big one.

It sounds like real travel in our solar system is starting to take
seed.
When will we reach Mars? Fifty years?

I assume you mean manned - we have robotic spacecraft on Mars now. Under
the current program, more like thirty years, assuming the political will
behind the program can be sustained that long (unlikely, unfortunately).

--
JRF

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