New Horizons: A Journey to Pluto
Sreya Mulukutla and Grace Hewlett
Background Info
- NASA launched probe to Pluto in 2006
- Expected to land in July
- Will visit one or more Kuiper Belt Objects beyond Pluto
Impact on the World
- Info about life on Pluto and places away from the sun
- Prove how Earth and Pluto are similar
- Info on how planets were made
Discoveries
- Found an active Tvastar volcano on Jupiter
- Found polar ice caps on Pluto
- Taken the first picture of Jupiter's Little Red Dot
- Seen something different in Jupiter's moon Io
- Seen more moons orbiting Pluto
Design and Building: Command and Data
- processor gives commands to each system and sends the informations back to Earth
- can carry two - low power solid states that hold 8 gigabytes each
- main processor can collect and send information back to Earth
Design and Building: Thermal Control
- able to keep heat like a thermos
- covered in gold colored, multi - layer thermal insulation
- electronics heat helped spacecraft maintain the heat
- monitors power levels inside the spacecraft to make sure there is enough heat and electricity
- a drop below 150 watts will turn the safety heaters on
- heater vents open when temperatures are too high
NASA probe sends back first color image of Pluto