Word: pluto
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...days by high winds-first at Cape Canaveral, where they threated the Atlas V rocket, and then, improbably, by a storm that knocked out power to the control center in Maryland. But the New Horizons mission finally lifted off successfully on Thursday, en route to a 2015 encounter with Pluto...
...Given that a debate has been raging for the past few years over whether Pluto is even a planet, it might be tempting to wonder "why bother?" In fact, though, the debate underscores why it's an even more important mission than anyone might have imagined just a couple of decades ago. Back then, Pluto was considered a sort of one-of-a-kind oddball, a big chunk of mostly ice, very different from the rocky inner planets (like Earth) or the gassy outer ones (like Jupiter...
...ORBIT OF PLUTO ? From Pluto, the sun appears about 1,000 times as dim as it does from Earth ? Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, are locked in synchronous orbit, always keeping the same face toward each other...
...Antenna ? Heat shield ? Thruster ? Star tracking cameras ? PEPSSI - Detects molecules escaping from Pluto's atmosphere ? SWAP - Looks for magnetic fields and measures how fast the atmosphere is escaping ? RTG - Powers the craft with a tiny amount of plutonium. Because the probe will travel so far from the sun, solar power was not an option ? LORRI - A high-resolution telescope and camera capable of detecting features about the size of a football field ? REX - Uses radio waves to analyze the atmosphere and determine night-side temperature ? ALICE - Analyzes ultraviolet light to determine...
MYSTERIES OF AN ICY WORLD ? Pluto ? Charon ? If humans lived by Pluto time, they would never see a second birthday. The planet orbits the sun once every 248 Earth years ? And if humans lived on Pluto, they wouldn't have to diet. Pluto's gravity is so weak that a man weighing 300 lbs. (136 kg) on Earth would weigh just 20 lbs. (9 kg) on Pluto ? Unfortunately, breathing would be impossible. In addition to being intolerably cold, Pluto has a thin?and temporary?atmosphere of nitrogen molecules, with traces of carbon monoxide and methane...