NEW YORK: Engineers say the New Horizons spacecraft is in “great shape” for its historic flyby of Pluto
Engineers say the New Horizons spacecraft is in “great shape” for its historic flyby of Pluto this week.
In the early hours of Monday (GMT), the American space agency probe moved to within a million miles of the dwarf planet and was closing in rapidly.
The mission has one opportunity to gather detailed pictures and other science data during the encounter.
The spacecraft is moving so quickly it cannot stop and will simply barrel past the little world on Tuesday.
Every observation New Horizons seeks to make at Pluto must be executed in just a few hours.
With nearly five billion km between Earth and the dwarf, any radio message carries hours of delay.
It means the probe cannot be controlled in real time and it will be working to an automated command sequence.
New Horizons now has that sequence written into its computer, and engineers confirmed on Sunday that they plan to send up no further commands to the spacecraft.
This is one of those key moments in the history of space exploration. A successful rendezvous will complete the initial reconnaissance of all the “classical” nine planets.
Glen Fountain, the New Horizons project manager, has told his team to stay focused but to try also to soak up some of the atmosphere.
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