Here’s What We Just Learned About Pluto

At a NASA briefing this good afternoon , Alan Stern , New Horizon ’s principal investigator , answered motion from the media and the world on today ’s historical flyby , discussing the team ’s latest impressions of Pluto ’s control surface , how the data is being transmit back to Earth , and much , much more !

Here are all the cardinal answers we got .

How tight is New Horizons charge data back to Earth ?

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That depends : The science squad has a term called ‘ rate stepping ’ to key out the fastness at which we encounter data based on the attitude of the New Horizons spacecraft in Earth ’s sky and the disposition of our priming coat antennae . presently , our antenna are receive information at their low pace , approximately 1,000 bit per second . We can attain download rates of up to 4,000 bits per second when the ballistic capsule transition to ‘ whirl mode’—literally pointing itself at the Earth and spin along its axis for increased stableness .

Basically , our ability to download new image of Pluto pretend telephone dial - up net looking downright zippy . This is why it ’ll take us an estimated 16 months to download all the data New Horizons sends home this week .

It wait like the surface of Charon is more cratered than that of Pluto , yes ?

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We ’ve know for some time now that the surface of Pluto and its big moon Charon are different . To Stern ’s eye , the images we ’ve received so far show a much unseasoned surface on Pluto and an old , more battered surface on Charon .

Why would that be ? We ’re not quite sure yet . It ’s potential that more dynamic interior geological processes on Pluto are causing the surface to eat at and recycle itself more rapidly ( although the scientific discipline squad would n’t yet comment on whether Pluto might have architectonic activity ! ) . Or it ’s potential that atmospherical processes are covering up some of Pluto ’s crater . When we get more data back , we ’ll be able to piece this secret together . “ It ’s ambiguous today , ” Stern says , “ Because we just get the [ preliminary ] data and do n’t have bear data to unravel the whole story . ”

What ’s the maximum mental image resolution we hope to get on the dark side of Pluto ?

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That ’s a toughened doubtfulness , NASA says .

For those who are n’t aware , now that the New Horizons spacecraft is beyond Pluto , it ’s look back at the planet and seeing the night side . This would be a number of a bummer , except that the science team cleverly set up the flyby to occur on a solar day where Charon is on the diametrical side ( the day side ) . Sunlight is bouncing off Charon , straighten out those otherwise obscure nightside terrains .

While Charon ’s reflected light allow us to see terrains that would be invisible , we ’re looking into the glare of the sun , which mean ’s we ’re picking up a heap of racket . To hike up the signal to noise ratio , we need to compound pixels on our images . fundamentally , we ’re making a dark , coarse-grained picture of Pluto ’s nightside somewhat less grainy , but lose resolution in the process .

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The fondness shaped feature film on Pluto ’s surface come along slightly different on the right hand and the leftover side . Is this a optical caper , or could it be indicative of a genuine remainder ?

NASA scientist are seeing the same thing we are : A bit of a unexpended - correct duality on the heart . According to Stern , ‘ we ’ll get laid more when we get color information . ’ Hrmph .

When will we see the in vogue colour data point on Pluto ?

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We have color data on ground justly now , and the scientific discipline team is work on litigate it . We may see some more color image later in the day . The image demo at the top is a composite plant of Pluto ( left ) and Charon ( rightfield ) presented at the recent media briefing andpublished by New Scientist . ( More on that imageover at space.io9.com ) . Note that the colour in this image have been overdone to highlight different surface feature of speech on each of the worlds .

What will our scientists see on the monitors tonight when New Horizons phones home ?

When NASA instal a ‘ handshake ’ between the ground station and the space vehicle , the first affair the science team will attempt to lock down is the carrier sign : That secern us the spacecraft is actually there . Next up , we ’ll face at the telemetry data to see whether New Horizons is transmitting signal at the expected pace . All of this information will be encoded as a string of ones and zero , but the science team ’s ground database has mapped this binary code to symbols that say ‘ out of lock ’ or ‘ whorl ’ — and that ’s what our scientific discipline team will see on the priming .

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Then , we ’ll start obtain tangible - prison term data on all the subsystem on control panel the ballistic capsule . New Horizons sends telemetry information by cycle through the craft ’s subsystems — thing like the main figurer status and main controls . When we intercept the signal , we do n’t know where in the subsystem revolution we ’ll catch it , but the science team think we ’ll have enough time to bike through each of the subsystems and ensure the entire spacecraft is go decent .

If we do n’t hear from New Horizons tonight….how much of its data do we already have ?

First off , NASA thinks the probability of losing the space vehicle is extremely downcast : about 2 in 10,000 . As Stern points out , this means you could flee 100 of New Horizons spacecrafts through the Pluto system and expect each of them to survive . Nevertheless , NASA has been furiously convey initial data point to the basis , which Stern call the ‘ failsafe datasets ’ . fundamentally , we ’re endeavor to download as much as we can now , so that we ’re as prepared as potential should a tiny meteoric impact put New Horizons out of activity early .

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So far , Stern says , the failsafe dataset consists of compositional data , color data , and spectroscopic data about Pluto ’s standard pressure . But 99 pct of the data is still on the craft , along with most of the really important stuff .

“ It would be a great disappointment if New Horizons was lost to a debris smasher , ” Stern says , “ But we think it ’s go to do just fine . ”

Will we return to Pluto after New Horizons ?

Stern believes we will . “ There are some very good , preliminary concepts for how we can do comply up missionary work , ” he enunciate . “ But first , we demand to see this data come to the priming and analyze it for a period of age . We do n’t know the right question to ask and the correct instruments to put on an orbiter . I retrieve first , the right thing to do is to really analyze the data we have on the ground . ”

Can I watch New Horizons phone dwelling house this eve ?

Yes ! If you go toeyes.nasa.gov , you ’ll be able-bodied to see — almost live — when our phone home plate signal arrives tonight at 8:30 PM ET . We ’ll also be livestreaming the effect over atspace.io9.com .

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