Mind blown by the images this morning young geology, mountains and fewer craters!
And you can imagine how excited my planetary scientists wife is - seeing as she specialises in different types of water, methane and ammonia ice and hydrates in the outer Solar System...
yep I agree very exciting, crazy young geology and a smorgasboard of chemical composition.
The mountains on Pluto likely formed no more than 100 million years ago -- mere youngsters in a 4.56-billion-year-old solar system. This suggests the close-up region, which covers about one percent of Pluto's surface, may still be geologically active today.
"This is one of the youngest surfaces we've ever seen in the solar system," said Jeff Moore of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI) at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/...?page=20150715
Mind blown by the images this morning young geology, mountains and fewer craters!
And you can imagine how excited my planetary scientists wife is - seeing as she specialises in different types of water, methane and ammonia ice and hydrates in the outer Solar System...
Yep, I imagine the cat is well and truly amongst the pigeons...
The people who pushed for this mission must be feeling no small amount of vindication for their vision.
Isn't that just amazing. That right out there where there was a good chance all we'd find were colder versions of Ceres, here we have a planet that is more active than Mercury or Mars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rustigsmed
"This is one of the youngest surfaces we've ever seen in the solar system," said Jeff Moore of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI) at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/...?page=20150715
Whilst Emily must remain the diplomat, some in the Planetary society have stronger views,
Here's a few of them:
Quote:
Richard Adams: 07/19/2015 08:06 CDT
I find it rather depressing that mission scientists (and NASA at large, perhaps more accurately) seem to be completely blind to the catastrophic damage such unfounded paranoia results in: That is, the irreparable harm done in losing all momentum with the general public.
Pluto, and New Horizons itself, enjoyed an almost unprecedented (in recent times) bit of PR gold. It was everywhere you went this past week, and the mission was in the minds of the general public like few non-Mars missions have been dating back to the Voyagers.
This publicity and attention is not a permanent thing, however, nor is it even long lasting by any stretch. Already, the hoopla and hype is dying back down. All those treasure troves of data and imagery which *are* available, now will go unknown to the general public due to the considerable (week plus) delay in their release. Rather than enjoying a cache of Plutonian riches, now the public at large will be left with remembering New Horizons as a smattering of up-close images.
This has a definitive price associated with it: When it comes time to propose or gain support for another planetary mission somewhere, instead of the layperson saying, "Fund that sucker... yesterday! Just look at all the priceless findings of NH," they'll instead shrug and say, "Space... who cares?"
NH represented a unique way of gaining resonance and support with the general public, and these unfounded concerns of being "scooped" have forever mitigated what the mission could have otherwise provided as incentive for future planetary science. You just can't ever get back all that media attention and PR we enjoyed this past week, something now and forever lost... and for little genuine reason. Such a shame.
ReaperX: 07/19/2015 08:30 CDT
I couldn't agree more with Richard - this paranoid behavior is damaging to the cause of planetary exploration.
It is also unethical - sorry dear mission scientists, but We The Taxpayers pay your salaries and should be considered the ultimate owners of all data generated by NASA space missions. Perhaps that largely imaginary uninvolved scientist who just downloaded the data and beat you to a discovery has as much a right to that discovery as you do.
Finally, there is another way in which this behavior is damaging. "NASA is airbrushing evidence of ETs/UFOs/Alien Bases out of pictures" has become almost its own conspiracy subgenre. Perhaps the people who make these kinds of claims would be making them anyway. But do you really have to encourage them and "prove their case" by delaying data release?
If all raw data from all our space missions was available on the internet in REAL TIME, that would go a long way towards discouraging the conspiracy mongering. Current practices are practically asking for it.
ReaperX: 07/19/2015 08:45 CDT
Perhaps it's time for the Planetary Society to make real time raw data releases one of its political lobbying goals. The PS is not a society of NASA cheerleaders.
Richard Adams: 07/19/2015 08:55 CDT
@ReaperX - You bring up another good point, one almost entirely missing until your post. Yes, while the "our tax dollars at work" is arguable for any mission, NH is quite unique.
Basically, if it weren't for the very society whose page we're all posting on just now (and, hopefully, are all due-paying members in good standing), there wouldn't be a New Horizons... period!
It's strictly because all those many astronomy nuts and non-NASA planetary scientists cried out in unison that the mission exists. Ultimately, this mission solely owes itself to the very same segment the team members apparently express paranoia about and disrespect with this particular policy.
It wouldn't be anywhere near as irrational or questionable had this simply been par for the course. But after so very long where NH seemed cognizant of its origins and embracing of an unusual degree of openness and informational freedoms, this abrupt turnaround precisely when it does the greatest amount of harm to the future of planetary science is indeed most jarring and unexpected, if not somewhat insulting.
young geology, mountains and fewer craters!
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