New Horizons Payload Gets High Marks on Early Tests

OK, what was the seventh instrument ? .. Has it completed testing to prove
that it survived Atlas V launch and demonstrated its basic functionality?


g. beat

"rk" wrote in message
news
March 29, 2006
New Horizons Payload Gets High Marks on Early Tests

In-flight checks of the New Horizons science payload are going well, as
six
of the seven instruments on board have completed tests proving they
survived
launch and demonstrated their basic functionality.

Over the past month, spacecraft controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied
Physics Laboratory (APL) flipped the "on" switches for Ralph, Alice,
LORRI,
SWAP, PEPSSI and the Student Dust Counter and confirmed that the
instruments' thermal control systems work, their computer processors boot
up
and run the correct code, and they can receive commands and send telemetry
(or status data) back to Earth. In addition, both the Alice and SWAP
instruments have opened the aperture doors that protected them from
contamination on Earth and during launch. The PEPSSI and Ralph aperture
doors will be opened later this spring; LORRI's door will be opened in
early
fall. (The dust counter and radio science experiment, named REX, do not
have
such doors.)


-- end excerpt --

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/032906.htm
--
rk, Just an OldEngineer
"The number of people having any connection with the project must be
restricted in an almost vicious manner. Use a small number of good
people."
-- Kelly Johnson in Skunk Works

The new Horizons mission has thus far proven that we can still manage
to waste valuable talents, burn off billions of hard earned dollars and
summarilly further pollute mother Earth at the same time.

This pathetic new Horizons mission is so very much like most everything
else that sucks and blows about our NASA.

You've got to be kidding, folks: "NASA Reinstates The Dawn Mission".
Say what again?
"Dawn Mission: A journey to the beginning of the solar system."

Let us see how this DAWN fiasco computes in terrestrial human terms;
Too many of us can't seem to manage surviving our own global-warming,
we're 10+ trillions in debt, we're losing countless thousands of
innocent souls (tens of thousands if you'd care include Iraq) per year
due to our very own bad doings, and yet our warm and fuzzy NASA is
still into spending millions upon millions if not billions, plus
planning upon taking all of that spendy time, supposed talents and
resources upon promoting this "Dawn Mission" and of others similar.

The New Horizons mission seemed by far bad enough, with at most
offering less than a net zero worth (AKA negative worth) as to the
lower 99.9% of humanity. However, besides eventually obtaining more of
those nifty artificially colored eye-candy pictures that'll have to go
into those spendy textbooks and countless science journals, is there
something that's weird or extra dog wagging special with this Dawn
Mission, that which I'm totally missing?
-
Brad Guth

On 2 Apr 2006 13:16:42 -0700, "Brad Guth"
wrote:

The New Horizons mission seemed by far bad enough, with at most
offering less than a net zero worth (AKA negative worth) as to the
lower 99.9% of humanity. However, besides eventually obtaining more of
those nifty artificially colored eye-candy pictures that'll have to go
into those spendy textbooks and countless science journals, is there
something that's weird or extra dog wagging special with this Dawn
Mission, that which I'm totally missing?

Yes, it's this strange thing called 'learning'. You should try it one
day instead of being constantly cynicaly critical.

Drew; Yes, it's this strange thing called 'learning'.
You should try it one day instead of being constantly cynicaly critical.
If we had the spare trillions upon trillions at our disposal, as well
as the decades of talents and of all their supposed expertise to draw
upon, and if we hadn't as of lately provoked most every other Muslim
into hating our infidel guts, to the point where we're now afraid of
our own shadow, whereas I too would be supportive of going for the
likes of Pluto and even of snatching Sedna on behalf of our
accomplishing a terraforming task of our doing a number on Venus, as
well as I would have had those speedy little probes headed for Sirius
as of decades ago.

I actually have lots of spendy and time consuming ideas, some of which
having a rather positive contribution that'll actually have a direct
impact upon improving the quality of life for the lower 99.9% of
humanity, and most likely salvage whatever's left of our global warming
environment at the same time.

How exactly is your NEW HORIZONS mission going to accomplish a worth of
good for the lower 99.9% of humanity?

Don't we already know that it's cold and nasty out there?

Don't we know that regardless of whatever Pluto is made of (say if it's
made of precious metals or that of diamond, or perhaps even a cash of
frozen H2O2), that other than spendy eye candy we can't directly or
even indirectly accomplish any good for humanity or much less that of
our environment?

What the hell do you think the LSE-CM/ISS is all about? It's certainly
not going to be cheap to create that sucker in the first place.

Perhaps you should try taking your head out of that status quo
infomercial space-toilet of your's, for a fresher breath of our
globally polluted air and a last look-see at what's soon going WW-III
postal because of your mainstream actions.
-
Brad Guth