WATCH ABOVE: The planned fly-by of Pluto is a rare feat and ‘New Horizons’ is expected to get within 7800 miles of Pluto’s orbit. Scientists know very little about Pluto’s surface but a team at John Hopkins University applied physics lab will soon find out. Elaine Quijano reports.
LAUREL, Md. – It’s probably safe to say that as the minutes and seconds tick away on the morning of July 14, there will be a palpable tension in the New Horizons control room at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
READ MORE: Why Pluto matters: A small world readies for big things
New Horizons, the fastest spacecraft to ever leave our planet, is destined to make its closest flyby of the elusive and mysterious Pluto. The last of the traditional planets to be explored, Pluto has plenty of mysteries to be uncovered, including its composition, atmosphere and, well, really, what it looks like.
In order to get there in a reasonable time (as in, before the investigators and team were long gone) the spacecraft had to travel at an incredible speed, more than 50,000 km/h. Because of that, New Horizons won’t be slowing down very much.
Here’s an introduction to the instruments on board New Horizons, provided by NASA.
On the day of closest approach — July 14 at 7:49 a.m. ET — the spacecraft will be madly collecting scientific data and observations.
WATCH: What we’ve learned so far from the New Horizons mission to Pluto
So, what will the spacecraft that has been on a nine-and-a-half year mission to the farthest reaches of our solar system actually be doing once it arrives?
On Tuesday, you can watch NASA coverage of the events here at GlobalNews.ca. You can also follow me on Twitter for a behind-the-scenes look at the events at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory where the team will be anxiously awaiting all the new discoveries New Horizons is ready to make.
Here are some early predictions the team has made.
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