[extropy-chat] Pluto New Horizons launch -getting ready

[Robert Bradbury]

Spike wrote:

Gotta get to work, so not much time now.  But I can assure
> you, impact is out of the question.  The weight required to
> make for a soft landing is mostly not practical for a Pluto
> mission.  The craft must send the signals back using a very
> low bandwidth antenna in order to keep it's weight and power
> down, so it takes a long time to send back the signals that
> were collected quickly.  A Pluto flyby is about the best we can
> do for now.


You are assuming one  doesn't assemble the antenna on-site using available
materials (though the required materials on Pluto would be an iffy question
I will admit.  Ultimately you also seem to suggest using radio transmitters
when I think lasers have it all over radio at this point.  So what if it
can't transmit all the time as the planet rotates so long as it can transmit
when it has a direct line to Earth?  I think you need some outside of the
box thinking Spike.  You don't land the entire probe (nuclear power
generator and all) you just fire the landers out the back end as it flys
by.  They end up with an effectively lower velocity so they can be captured
by Pluto's gravity and make a relatively soft landing.

However my question remains -- how many G's would the New Horizon's probe
experience if targeted to hit Pluto?  I would stress the point that parts of
many meteorites hitting the Earth *do* survive hitting the ground with
relatively intact structures.  And that is without engineering them to have
things like aerobraking, air bags, and crush frames oriented in the
direction of impact.  Come on.  Imagine multiple layers of bubblewrap
(filled with H2 or He),
around a big ball of NASA memory foam around a crushable metal frame around
a relatively "solid" computer and power source.  Are you trying to convince
me that something like this could not survive the impact?

Also, does anyone know whether the New Horizons mission using a hard drive
or a tape to store all of the data collected?  What do the Mars landers use?

Robert
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