New Horizons Mission Two Pluto

I have just been reading the CNN article on this mission. I have two
questions:

Firstly the article refers to Pluto's moons plural. What other moons does it
have besides Charon?

Secondly the craft is said to be the fastest to leave Earth to date. It will
pass the moon in 9 hours and reach Jupiter in around a year. This means,
according to my quick calculations what it will reach Mars, or at least
Mars' orbit in just over 3 months.

If the US now has craft this fast why are manned missions to the Moon and
Mars still so many years away?

Katipo

On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 08:40:07 +1300, "Katipo"
wrote:

I have just been reading the CNN article on this mission. I have two
questions:

Firstly the article refers to Pluto's moons plural. What other moons does it
have besides Charon?

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005...ble_Pluto.html

If the US now has craft this fast why are manned missions to the Moon and
Mars still so many years away?

New Horizons only weighs 1,000 lbs.

Brian

Katipo wrote:
I have just been reading the CNN article on this mission. I have two
questions:

Firstly the article refers to Pluto's moons plural. What other moons does it
have besides Charon?

Secondly the craft is said to be the fastest to leave Earth to date. It will
pass the moon in 9 hours and reach Jupiter in around a year. This means,
according to my quick calculations what it will reach Mars, or at least
Mars' orbit in just over 3 months.

If the US now has craft this fast why are manned missions to the Moon and
Mars still so many years away?

The high velocity is possible because Stardust only weighs
about 480 kg and is being boosted to speed by a launch
vehicle that weighs 573,160 kg at liftoff - a ratio of nearly
1,194 to 1! A similar mass ratio to boost a 30 tonne CEV
would call for a launch vehicle that weighed nearly 36,000
tonnes (equivalent to about 6 Saturn Vs).

- Ed Kyle

I wondered the same. Could it be the acceleration?

How is this speed being achieved with a lot of theprobes needing gravity
assists to get fast enough.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________
__________________________________


"Katipo" wrote in message
...
| I have just been reading the CNN article on this mission. I have two
| questions:
|
| Firstly the article refers to Pluto's moons plural. What other moons does
it
| have besides Charon?
|
| Secondly the craft is said to be the fastest to leave Earth to date. It
will
| pass the moon in 9 hours and reach Jupiter in around a year. This means,
| according to my quick calculations what it will reach Mars, or at least
| Mars' orbit in just over 3 months.
|
| If the US now has craft this fast why are manned missions to the Moon and
| Mars still so many years away?
|
| Katipo
|
|

This is the kind of design needed for QUICK supplies to mars crew in a
emergency!

Now rather than ground based launch you send cargo to orbit by other
means, then put it on a hot booster and on its way it goes!

This is the kind of design needed for QUICK supplies to mars crew in a
emergency!

Now rather than ground based launch you send cargo to orbit by other
means, then put it on a hot booster and on its way it goes!

"ed kyle" wrote in message
ups.com...

Katipo wrote:
I have just been reading the CNN article on this mission. I have two
questions:

Firstly the article refers to Pluto's moons plural. What other moons does
it
have besides Charon?

Secondly the craft is said to be the fastest to leave Earth to date. It
will
pass the moon in 9 hours and reach Jupiter in around a year. This means,
according to my quick calculations what it will reach Mars, or at least
Mars' orbit in just over 3 months.

If the US now has craft this fast why are manned missions to the Moon and
Mars still so many years away?

The high velocity is possible because Stardust only weighs
about 480 kg and is being boosted to speed by a launch
vehicle that weighs 573,160 kg at liftoff - a ratio of nearly
1,194 to 1! A similar mass ratio to boost a 30 tonne CEV
would call for a launch vehicle that weighed nearly 36,000
tonnes (equivalent to about 6 Saturn Vs).

- Ed Kyle


What if the Moon/Mars ship was assembled in orbit. How big a booster would
then be needed to get it to the same sort of speed NH will travel at?

Katipo

On 2006-01-16, ed kyle wrote:

Katipo wrote:
I have just been reading the CNN article on this mission. I have two
questions:

Firstly the article refers to Pluto's moons plural. What other moons does it
have besides Charon?

Secondly the craft is said to be the fastest to leave Earth to date. It will
pass the moon in 9 hours and reach Jupiter in around a year. This means,
according to my quick calculations what it will reach Mars, or at least
Mars' orbit in just over 3 months.

If the US now has craft this fast why are manned missions to the Moon and
Mars still so many years away?

The high velocity is possible because Stardust only weighs

Stardust ? I assume you meant New Horizons, since Stardust just returned
to earth ?


Iain

wrote:
On 2006-01-16, ed kyle wrote:

Katipo wrote:
I have just been reading the CNN article on this mission. I have two
questions:

Firstly the article refers to Pluto's moons plural. What other moons does it
have besides Charon?

Secondly the craft is said to be the fastest to leave Earth to date. It will
pass the moon in 9 hours and reach Jupiter in around a year. This means,
according to my quick calculations what it will reach Mars, or at least
Mars' orbit in just over 3 months.

If the US now has craft this fast why are manned missions to the Moon and
Mars still so many years away?

The high velocity is possible because Stardust only weighs

Stardust ? I assume you meant New Horizons, since Stardust just returned
to earth ?

Ooops. Yes. Pluto New Horizons, not Stardust.

- Ed Kyle

On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 16:14:11 -0600, Katipo wrote
(in article ):

What if the Moon/Mars ship was assembled in orbit. How big a booster would
then be needed to get it to the same sort of speed NH will travel at?

Try a physics textbook and figure it out yourself. Here's a head
start:

F=m*a

F=force, m=mass, a=acceleration

and V=a*t

V=velocity, a=acceleration, t=time.

Plug in what you know and solve for the rest.

--
Herb

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
~ RAH