Pluto-bound spacecraft provides close-up look at Jupiter system
Posted: Wed, May 2, 2007, 8:45 AM ET (1245 GMT)
A Pluto-bound spacecraft that flew past Jupiter in late February has provided scientists with their first close-up look at an emerging storm in the giant planet's atmosphere, as well as other features of the planet and its rings and moons, project officials said Tuesday. New Horizons passed about 2.2 million kilometers from Jupiter on February 28, a flyby designed to give the spacecraft a gravity assist and put it on course for Pluto, as well as provide a "stress test" for the spacecraft's instruments and other systems. About 70 percent of the data collected during the lfyby has been transmitted back to Earth, including high-resolution images of the Little Red Spot, the planet's second-largest storm, which formed in the last decade with the merger of three smaller storms. Other data returned by New Horizons includes images of the Galileo moons Europa and Io. The spacecraft, launched in January 2006, will fly past Pluto in July 2015.
A Pluto-bound spacecraft that flew past Jupiter in late February has provided scientists with their first close-up look at an emerging storm in the giant planet's atmosphere, as well as other features of the planet and its rings and moons, project officials said Tuesday. New Horizons passed about 2.2 million kilometers from Jupiter on February 28, a flyby designed to give the spacecraft a gravity assist and put it on course for Pluto, as well as provide a "stress test" for the spacecraft's instruments and other systems. About 70 percent of the data collected during the lfyby has been transmitted back to Earth, including high-resolution images of the Little Red Spot, the planet's second-largest storm, which formed in the last decade with the merger of three smaller storms. Other data returned by New Horizons includes images of the Galileo moons Europa and Io. The spacecraft, launched in January 2006, will fly past Pluto in July 2015.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, August 30
Starlink launches in UAE - but is it an alternative to the telecoms duopoly?
The National (UAE) — 5:34 am ET (0934 GMT) UAE grants Musk’s Starlink 10-year satellite internet licence
Siasat Daily (India) — 5:33 am ET (0933 GMT) Hickenlooper Questions Trump’s Space Academy Announcement
US Senate — 5:32 am ET (0932 GMT) SpaceX bets on Louisiana as America’s next frontier takes off in the South
Fox News — 5:30 am ET (0930 GMT) Hanwha Hosts Space Conference: "Korea Needs Its Own SpaceX"
Asia Business Daily — 5:29 am ET (0929 GMT) |
