NASA’s Pluto Mission - 10 interesting facts

NASA’s Pluto Mission has been a hot topic for quite a while especially after images of the once smallest planet of the galaxy surfaced on the social media after being officially released by NASA itself. However, there are some amazing aspects of the whole mission that many aren’t aware of.

 Image: Phys.org

Here are 10 interesting facts that you will be amazed to know about the Pluto Mission-

1. The spacecraft New Horizons, made the record of the fastest launch in 2006 when it rocketed at a speed over 36,000 miles per hour and reached the moon in just nine hours, making it to the largest planet of the galaxy, Jupiter the same year. The diameter of Pluto was crossed by the spacecraft in just three minutes.
2. The latest image of Pluto actually indicate that the planet might have more volume than what it was earlier presumed to be and as a result, it may have more ice beneath its surface.
3. Scientists from NASA have already begun naming various objects and features as seen in the images of Pluto—some of which include Cthulu and Balrog. However, these names are yet to become official only after the International Astronomical Union approves it.
4. The spacecraft New Horizons was able to detect a nitrogen atmospheric layer in the outer space which is believed to be a result of frozen methane and nitrogen.
5. Currently, the mission is heading toward the Kuiper Belt, where it will test more ancient icy objects in different trajectories.
6. Right after New Horizons was launched, Pluto was deemed as a dwarf planet. However, many debates have taken place about the use and association of the word “planet” with Pluto.
    
   Image: Iau.org
   
   
7. While most spacecrafts depend upon solar energy, New Horizons is geared with nuclear fuel, which is believed to last until the late 2020s or even beyond that.
8. The first interesting image that the spacecraft had achieved was in the year 2007 when it had monitored Jupiter and attained a video footage of a volcanic eruption on the planet’s moon. This was the first time ever that any volcanic eruption was recorded outside Earth.
9. Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 and before his death in 1997, it was his request that his ashes were sent to the space. NASA complied with this request and currently, the Pluto Mission is actually carrying Tombaugh’s ashes in the probe’s upper deck.
10. While in pre launch phase, astronomers thought that the Pluto Mission was only to observe Pluto and its moon. However, things changed when more moons were discovered, leading to a number of changes in the mission, in regards of what it needed to observe now and avoid collisions with.