Pluto, your bets?

[TteFAboB]

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/

So, as long as the probe is not sabotaged by Aliens, what do you think we'll find out there? Don't hurry though, you have 10 years to think and place your bets.

I think as soon as the probe approaches Pluto NASA will register massive anomalies because Pluto is infact a masked jump gate commonly used by UFOs to jump into the solar system and pay a tourist visit to Earth, with the occasional philanthropic assistance too of course.

[Takeda Shingen]

I believe that we will find Pluto to be downgraded from it's current classification as a planet. Lots of people are going to be upset about it as well.

[CCIP]

I believe that we will find Pluto to be downgraded from it's current classification as a planet. Lots of people are going to be upset about it as well.

That is my suspicion, too. There has been a lot of talk about this, and I think it may well happen. Although even more interesting would be looking at and comparing it to that potential 10th rock that they found further out recently. That could certainly settle the debate.

[Torplexed]

I remember reading that the The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space was planning to protest the launch as they did with Cassini. Apparently the probe will be carrying a cache of plutonium to power the onboard radioisotope thermoelectric generator.

C'mon people! I can't think of a more appropriate place to send PLUTOnium. Besides the more we send up there the less there is down here. :lol:

The craft will be doing a flyby of Jupiter enroute to Pluto so the nine-year voyage won't be completely dull.

[AG124]

I've always wanted to know what pluto was really like, although I am really more interested in knowing if there really is a 10th planet (it seems unlikely that tiny Pluto is affecting the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, but I'm not an expert).

Only about another decade to wait...I'll set the timer on my watch right now. :lol:

[TLAM Strike]

We all know this probe is being sent out to find the "Hidden Rebel Base" there... :shifty:

[gdogghenrikson]

I believe NASA is a huge waste of money...WHO CARES WHAT IS IN OUTER SPACE!!!! the U.S. should use that money for better schools, or to feed the poor, pay off the national debt, cure for AIDS, something worthwhile to our country.

and it will take 10 years to get there, but my theory is China or germany or some other country will launch a rocket in 5 years that can get there is 3 or so years so buy the time the U.S. gets there the other country will have been there, collected data and be heading home!

P.S. sorry for the yelling, but that is how a feel.

[TLAM Strike]

I believe NASA is a huge waste of money...WHO CARES WHAT IS IN OUTER SPACE!!!! the U.S. should use that money for better schools, or to feed the poor, pay off the national debt, cure for AIDS, something worthwhile to our country. NASA receives for it’s funding what amounts to something like half of 1 percent of the national budget. Not to mention that space exploration has led to the development of lots of technology and knowledge that is invaluable in education and medical (and other areas of) research.

and it will take 10 years to get there, but my theory is China or germany or some other country will launch a rocket in 5 years that can get there is 3 or so years so buy the time the U.S. gets there the other country will have been there, collected data and be heading home! If they can build an engine that could go that fast good for them! :o I'll take a dozen! :hmm: In the around 50 years of space exploration the US has been the ONLY country to launch probes beyond the inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars). The farthest the Russians or the ESA has been is Mars and half of those missions have failed. Yet all our deep space missions have succeeded beyond expectations, that says something about our infrastructure and knowledge.

[Takeda Shingen]

I believe NASA is a huge waste of money...WHO CARES WHAT IS IN OUTER SPACE!!!! the U.S. should use that money for better schools, or to feed the poor, pay off the national debt, cure for AIDS, something worthwhile to our country.

and it will take 10 years to get there, but my theory is China or germany or some other country will launch a rocket in 5 years that can get there is 3 or so years so buy the time the U.S. gets there the other country will have been there, collected data and be heading home!

P.S. sorry for the yelling, but that is how a feel.

Your ability complain about this topic to the world and your ability to play SH3 on your personal computer owe much to NASA's space program.

[gdogghenrikson]

If they can build an engine that could go that fast good for them! I'll take a dozen! Hmmm In the around 50 years of space exploration the US has been the ONLY country to launch probes beyond the inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars). The farthest the Russians or the ESA has been is Mars and half of those missions have failed. Yet all our deep space missions have succeeded beyond expectations, that says something about our infrastructure and knowledge.
or the rest of the world is smarter than us and they are saving there money

[Torpedo Fodder]

It's interesting to note that there is precedent for "demoting" celestial bodies from the status of Planet. The first 4 asteroids to be discovered (1-Ceres, 2-Pallas, 3-Juno and 4-Vesta) were initially classified as planets, and retained that designation for half a century until more asteroids were discovered, and the concept of the Asteroid Belt was accepted. Pluto was discovered before the Kuiper Belt was discovered, and in light of the discovery of Trans-Neptunian Objects nearly as large or larger than Pluto (Sedna and 2003 UB313, for instance), it's time to that Pluto is no longer considered a planet. If 2003 UB313 isn't a planet, then neither is Pluto.

[TLAM Strike]

If they can build an engine that could go that fast good for them! I'll take a dozen! Hmmm In the around 50 years of space exploration the US has been the ONLY country to launch probes beyond the inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars). The farthest the Russians or the ESA has been is Mars and half of those missions have failed. Yet all our deep space missions have succeeded beyond expectations, that says something about our infrastructure and knowledge.
or the rest of the world is smarter than us and they are saving there money Yea they are saving their money but not leading the world in scientific research. The first colonists on Mars probably won’t be made up of people from those countries. :yep:

[SUBMAN1]

I like this - the logic I am reading here on some posts would suggest that we not do any research at all!!! Why send subs down to the ocean depths to study fish we will never com into contact with? Why study medical science if we are all going to die anyway? What a way to send your country back to the dark ages.

To understand the heavens is to understand ourselves, and that is the whole purpose of life. Living without learning is like dying without being actually being dead. Many things are answered by sending probes to the farthest reaches of space that all help our understanding of our very own planet!!! I mean, it could be only a thousand years left of hydrogen powering our own sun. Might it be a good idea to find a way off this rock before that happens (If we don't anihilate ourselves first)? Isn't it a good idea to study even how life existed and came into being? That in itself leads to direct medical implications.

I could go on forever, but with that kind of attitude, I wouldn't be sitting in the very country that I am sitting in today since no one would have bothered to explore this far west!

-S

[Iceman]

After the success with the Cassinni mission I "Bet" they..Nasa or whatever scientists involved will accomplish whatever they are setting out to....If they can line up a probe on an astroid ,moving thru space, get within a mile or whatever, and launch a prob or bomb or whatever to hit and and succed, then I'll bet on them everytime....hitting a bird in the eye flying. :)

Go Nasa!

[SUBMAN1]

After the success with the Cassinni mission I "Bet" they..Nasa or whatever scientists involved will accomplish whatever they are setting out to....If they can line up a probe on an astroid ,moving thru space, get within a mile or whatever, and launch a prob or bomb or whatever to hit and and succed, then I'll bet on them everytime....hitting a bird in the eye flying. :)

Go Nasa!

THey launched a penetrator. And They even landed a probe on Eros that wasn't geared to land at all! They said, hey! I wonder if We can land the probe and everyone said it couldn't be done, and they did it. So, yeah, I bet on em!!!

-S

[SUBMAN1]

Here it is - if NASA can pull this off, it would be very bad odds to bet against them!

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/News/2001/News-NEAR.asp

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/near/010212nearlands/

-S

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/PIA03142_modest.jpg

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/PIA03144_modest.jpg

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/107924main_image_feature_265_ajhfull.jpg[/img]

[TLAM Strike]

Landing on an Asteroid is nothing! Scientists have now been able to detect the distortion in space-time created by a Black Hole and measure it finding that it’s constant.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060124/sc_space/blackholeputsdentinspacetime