DOCSLIB.ORG

Security Scare Puts Pluto Launch at Risk

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Security Scare Puts Pluto Launch at Risk news Security scare puts Pluto launch at risk Geoff Brumfiel,Washington The two-week launch window in A NASA mission to Pluto could arrive January 2006 is important because it five years late and cost tens of millions would allow the craft to bounce off of dollars more because of a security Jupiter’s gravitational field on its way to JHUAPL/SWRI clamp-down at Los Alamos National Pluto. New Horizons could potentially Laboratory in New Mexico. launch in February 2007, but it would The nuclear-powered New Horizons not be able to use Jupiter as a spring- spacecraft, scheduled for launch in board and so would face an additional 2006, should be fuelled by plutonium three to four years of travel time. Con- from a reprocessing facility at Los tingency plans drawn up by NASA put Alamos. But work at the lab shut down the extra costs, such as the need to run a on 16 July, pending a security review mission control centre for longer than into the disappearance of two classified expected,at $67 million. computer-storage devices (see Nature In the coming months,mission plan- 430,387;2004).If the reprocessing facil- ners will consider the implications of ities are not restarted soon, the mission The New Horizons probe is rapidly running out of time. redesigning the mission so that it uses could miss its launch window. “We’re fewer fuel pellets.“People are looking at taking this very seriously,” says Alan Stern, the Cassini mission to Saturn, these will lots and lots of remedies,”says Stern.Adding principal investigator of the project and power the spacecraft on its nine-year journey batteries that can be used to power up instru- director of the space-studies department to Pluto, says Orlando Figueroa, deputy ments when the craft arrives at Pluto is one at the Southwest Research Institute in Boul- associate administrator for programmes at possibility.Another is that some of the space- der,Colorado. NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in craft’s eight science instruments could be New Horizons is a $720-million space- Washington DC. To keep the satellite on removed,says Figueroa. craft designed to look at the Solar System’s schedule for the January 2006 launch date, The fuel shortage is the most pressing farthest planet and the Kuiper belt: a ring of the lab must deliver all the elements by the problem currently facing the mission, but it icy objects beyond Neptune’s orbit.Far from end of the year. is by no means the only challenge. Figueroa the Sun, the craft will depend on nuclear But on 4 August, Los Alamos director says that the launch rocket still needs final power to run its scientific instruments. Peter Nanos said that it would take roughly approval. And because the mission uses Under an agreement with NASA, Los two months for work at the lab to resume. nuclear power, the launch-approval process Alamos is to produce 36 plutonium fuel ele- Mission planners are racing to figure out is more lengthy than normal.“This is a lesson ments.Together with 36 spare elements from how to work the delay into their schedule. in risk management,”he says. ■ Doped athletes flex muscles against drug company Karoline Schwarzberg,Munich long-jumper and sprinter Heike Drechsler, Help for Victims of Doping, a Weinheim- Supporters of athletes who received steroids say they were told these were vitamins. based organization that supports athletes under East Germany’s state-controlled Steroids have many side effects, including an from the former GDR, is urging Jenapharm doping programme are turning up the heat increased risk of cancer and infertility. to pay several million euros in compensation on the pharmaceutical company alleged to to the group of victims. It also accuses have supplied the drugs. Jenapharm, which was taken over by Berlin- Pressure on Jenapharm, based in Jena, based drug company Schering in 2001, of Thuringen, has been mounting since July refusing to open its archives so the extent of ALLSPORT UK ALLSPORT 2003, when a former employee alleged on its involvement can be established. The firm television that the company supplied sports did not respond to requests for an interview. scientists in the German Democratic Last month, the society enlisted the help Republic (GDR) with substances used in the of Werner Franke, a prominent molecular doping programme. Rainer Hartwich, who biologist from the University of Heidelberg. now works as a physician and gives medical In the early 1990s, Franke was on a advice to victims of doping, also admitted to commission of the Wissenschaftsrat, having been involved in confidential clinical Germany’s influential science council, that doping research. investigated people responsible for doping. Jenapharm’s management disputes the He is married to Brigitte Berendonk, an allegations, saying the company produced athlete who left East Germany in 1958. the drugs for medical purposes and was not During previous investigations, Franke involved in doping studies — a claim that and Berendonk unearthed documents that will now be examined by a prominent he is using to compile a report on Jenapharm’s German molecular biologist. involvement. The report, due at the end of The extent of doping is unknown, but August, could make uncomfortable reading thousands of athletes are thought to have Leap of faith: gold-medallist Heike Drechsler for the company, as Franke claims he will be been given muscle-boosting steroids during was given ‘vitamins’ that were actually steroids. able to provide evidence of Jenapharm’s the 1970s and 1980s. Some, such as Olympic links to the doping programme. ■ NATURE | VOL 430 | 12 AUGUST 2004 | www.nature.com/nature 713 © 2004 Nature Publishing Group.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • + New Horizons
    Media Contacts NASA Headquarters Policy/Program Management Dwayne Brown New Horizons Nuclear Safety (202) 358-1726 [email protected] The Johns Hopkins University Mission Management Applied Physics Laboratory Spacecraft Operations Michael Buckley (240) 228-7536 or (443) 778-7536 [email protected] Southwest Research Institute Principal Investigator Institution Maria Martinez (210) 522-3305 [email protected] NASA Kennedy Space Center Launch Operations George Diller (321) 867-2468 [email protected] Lockheed Martin Space Systems Launch Vehicle Julie Andrews (321) 853-1567 [email protected] International Launch Services Launch Vehicle Fran Slimmer (571) 633-7462 [email protected] NEW HORIZONS Table of Contents Media Services Information ................................................................................................ 2 Quick Facts .............................................................................................................................. 3 Pluto at a Glance ...................................................................................................................... 5 Why Pluto and the Kuiper Belt? The Science of New Horizons ............................... 7 NASA’s New Frontiers Program ........................................................................................14 The Spacecraft ........................................................................................................................15 Science Payload ...............................................................................................................16
    [Show full text]
  • 1 the New Horizons Spacecraft Glen H. Fountain, David Y
    The New Horizons Spacecraft Glen H. Fountain, David Y. Kusnierkiewicz, Christopher B. Hersman, Timothy S. Herder, Thomas B Coughlin, William T. Gibson, Deborah A. Clancy, Christopher C. DeBoy, T. Adrian Hill, James D. Kinnison, Douglas S. Mehoke, Geffrey K. Ottman, Gabe D. Rogers, S. Alan Stern, James M. Stratton, Steven R. Vernon, Stephen P. Williams Abstract The New Horizons spacecraft was launched on January 19, 2006. The spacecraft was designed to provide a platform for the seven instruments designated by the science team to collect and return data from Pluto in 2015 that would meet the requirements established by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Announcement of Opportunity AO-OSS-01. The design drew on heritage from previous missions developed at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and other NASA missions such as Ulysses. The trajectory design imposed constraints on mass and structural strength to meet the high launch acceleration consistent with meeting the AO requirement of returning data prior to the year 2020. The spacecraft subsystems were designed to meet tight resource allocations (mass and power) yet provide the necessary control and data handling finesse to support data collection and return when the one way light time during the Pluto fly-by is 4.5 hours. Missions to the outer regions of the solar system (where the solar irradiance is 1/1000 of the level near the Earth) require a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) to supply electrical power. One RTG was available for use by New Horizons. To accommodate this constraint, the spacecraft electronics were designed to operate on less than 200 W.
    [Show full text]
  • New Horizons 2 Alan Stern (Swri), Rick Binzel (MIT), Hal Levison
    New Horizons 2 Alan Stern (SwRI), Rick Binzel (MIT), Hal Levison (SwRI), Rosaly Lopes (JPL), Bob Millis (Lowell Observatory), and Jeff Moore (NASA Ames) New Horizons is the inaugural mission in NASA’s New Frontiers program—a series of mid-sized planetary exploration projects. This mission was competitively selected in 2001 after a peer review competition between industry-university teams. The mission is on track toward a planned launch in January 2006—just over 6 months hence. The primary objective of New Horizons (NH) is to make the first reconnaissance of the solar system’s farthest planet, Pluto, its comparably sized satellite Charon. If an extended mission is approved, New Horizons may be able to also flyby a Kuiper Belt Object (KBOs) farther from the Sun. The exploration of the Kuiper Belt and Pluto-Charon was ranked as the highest new start priority for planetary exploration by the National Research Council’s recently completed (2002) Decadal Survey for Planetary Science. In accomplishing its goals, the mission is expected to reveal fundamental new insights into the nature of the outer solar system, the formation history of the planets, the workings of binary worlds, and the ancient repository of water and organic building blocks called the Kuiper Belt. Beyond its scientific ambitions, New Horizons is also breaking ground in lowering the cost of exploration of the outer solar system—for it is being built and launched for what are literally dimes on the dollar compared to deep outer solar system missions like Voyager, Galileo, and Cassini. The New Horizons spacecraft carries a suite of seven advanced, miniaturized instruments to obtain detailed imagery, mapping spectroscopy, thermal mapping, gravitational data, and in situ plasma composition, density, and energy sampling of the exotic, icy Pluto- Charon binary and a modest-sized (~50 km diameter) KBO.
    [Show full text]
  • Prospects for Future Exploration of the Trans-Neptunian Region
    Prospects for Future Exploration of the Trans-Neptunian Region Primary Authors: Bryan J. Holler (STScI), Michele T. Bannister (U. Canterbury), Kelsi N. Singer (SwRI), S. Alan Stern (SwRI) Co-Authors: Susan D. Benecchi (PSI), Cristina M. Dalle Ore (NASA Ames), Leigh N. Fletcher (U. of Leicester), Aurélie Guilbert-Lepoutre (U. de Lyon), Csaba Kiss (Konkoly Obs.), Pedro Lacerda (Queen’s U. Belfast), Kathleen E. Mandt (JHU/APL), Michaël Marsset (MIT), Alex H. Parker (SwRI), Noemí Pinilla-Alonso (FSI/UCF), Darin Ragozzine (BYU), Mark B. Tapley (SwRI), Chadwick A. Trujillo (NAU), Orkan M. Umurhan (SETI, NASA Ames), Hajime Yano (JAXA ISAS), Leslie A. Young (SwRI) Co-Signers: Richard Cartwright (SETI), Dale P. Cruikshank (NASA Ames), Estela Fernández-Valenzuela (FSI/UCF), Candy Hansen (PSI), Dean Hines (STScI), Jason D. Hofgartner (NASA/JPL), Timothy Holt (U. Southern Queensland), Carly Howett (SwRI), Katherine Murray (STScI), Cathy B. Olkin (SwRI), Nuno Peixinho (U. Coimbra), Alena Probst (JPL), Kirby D. Runyon (JHU/APL), Scott S. Sheppard (Carnegie Inst.), Anne Verbiscer (UVA), Maya D. Yanez (USC) Executive Summary: A strong case can be made for a flyby mission through the outer solar system in the coming decades. The census of the larger worlds of the trans-Neptunian region has shown that they display incredible diversity. Surface geology and composition, shapes, and binarity are far more varied in these distant populations than in many other regions of the solar system. Fully understanding these keystone worlds requires in situ observation. As demonstrated by New Horizons, the first trans-Neptunian flyby mission, close-up investigation can determine surface geology, atmospheric processes, space weather environment, interior-surface and surface- atmosphere interactions, and provide constraints on a body's interior [1-3].
    [Show full text]
  • Demotion of Pluto Relegates the Planethood Status of Earth
    International Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences (IJEAS) ISSN: 2394-3661, Volume-5, Issue-4, April 2018 Demotion of Pluto relegates the planethood status of Earth Dipak Nath Abstract— Planethood means the state or condition of being a of a planet. Earth is the third planet from the sun and the fifth Planet. Clyde.W. Tombough discovered Pluto on march13, 1930. largest. It is the only object in the universe known to harbor From its discovery in 1930 until 2006, Pluto was classified as life. Its name derives from Old English and Germanic .It is the Planet. In the late 20th and early 21st century, many objects densest major body in the solar system. Earth has only one similar to Pluto were discovered in the outer solar system, natural satellite, the moon. It has got many Asteroids and notably the scattered disc object Eris in 2005, which is 27% artificial satellites. Earth’s gravity interacts with other objects more massive than Pluto. On august-24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) defined what it means to be a Planet in space especially the sun and moon. Pluto was discovered by within the solar system. This definition excluded Pluto as a Clyde W Tombaugh in 1930 and was originally considered to Planet added it as a member of the new category “Dwarf Planet” be the ninth planet from the sun. After 1992, its status as along with Eris and Ceres. planet was questioned and in 2006 it was reclassified as a There were many reasons why Pluto got demoted to dwarf Dwarf Planet.
    [Show full text]
  • After Neptune Odyssey Design
    Concept Study Team We are enormously proud to be part of a large national and international team many of whom have contributed their time in order to make this study a very enjoyable and productive experience. Advancing science despite the lockdown. Team Member Role Home Institution Team Member Role Home Institution Abigail Rymer Principal Investigator APL George Hospodarsky Plasma Wave Expert U. of Iowa Kirby Runyon Project Scientist APL H. Todd Smith Magnetospheric Science APL Brenda Clyde Lead Engineer APL Hannah Wakeford Exoplanets U. of Bristol, UK Susan Ensor Project Manager APL Imke de Pater Neptune expert Berkeley Clint Apland Spacecraft Engineer APL Jack Hunt GNC Engineer APL Jonathan Bruzzi Probe Engineer APL Jacob Wilkes RF Engineer APL Janet Vertisi Sociologist, teaming expert Princeton James Roberts Geophysicist APL Kenneth Hansen NASA HQ Representative NASA HQ Jay Feldman Probe Engineer NASA Ames Krista Soderlund Neptune WG Co-lead U. of Texas Jeremy Rehm Outreach APL Kunio Sayanagi Neptune WG Co-lead Hampton U. Jorge Nunez Payload Manager APL Alan Stern Triton WG Co-lead SwRI Joseph Williams Probe Engineer NASA Ames Lynne Quick Triton WG Co-lead GSFC Juan Arrieta Tour Design NablaZero lab Tracy Becker Icies and Rings WG Co-lead SwRI Kathleen Mandt Triton Science APL Matthew Hedman Icies and Rings WG Co-lead U. of Idaho Kelvin Murray Schedule APL Ian Cohen Aurora/Mag WG Co-lead APL Kevin Stevenson Exoplanets APL Frank Crary Aurora/Mag WG Co-lead U. of Colorado Kurt Gantz Mechanical Design Engineer APL Jonathan Fortney Exoplanets WG Lead UCSC Larry Wolfarth Cost Analysis APL Adam Masters Magnetospheric Science Imperial College Leigh Fletcher Physicist U.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapters 11-14
    At NASA, hopes for a new planetary mission to Saturn had been in the works since the early 1980s. Scientists had long sought to visit the second-largest planet in the solar system, with its fascinating system of rings, numerous moons, and unique magnetic field. 11 140 Visiting Saturn 11 The Cassini Mission s the 1980s drew to a close, the DOE Office of Special Applica- tions had its hands full with space nuclear power system work. Although assembly and testing of four GPHS-RTGs (including Aone spare) for the Galileo and Ulysses missions were complete, other projects filled the time. Ongoing assessment and development of DIPS, begun under SDI, continued on a limited basis under SEI. e SP- 100 space reactor program and TFE verification program were in the midst of ongoing development and testing. DOE also continued supporting DoD in development of a space nuclear thermal propulsion system that had begun under the auspices of SDI. At NASA, hopes for a new planetary mission to Saturn had been in the works since the early 1980s. Scientists had long sought to visit the second-largest planet in the solar system, with its fascinating system of rings, numerous moons, and unique magnetic field. Flybys of Saturn by the RTG-powered Pioneer 11 spacecraft in 1979 and the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1980 and 1981, respectively, provided information that further piqued that interest. Efforts to acquire a Saturn mission finally came to fruition in 1989 with the authorization of Congressional funding. Conceived as an international partnership with the ESA and Italian Space Agency, the Cassini-Huygens mission (alternately the Cassini mission) began in 1990 and consisted of an orbiter (Cassini) and a probe (Huygens).
    [Show full text]
  • New Horizons: First Scientific Results
    New Horizons: First Scientific Results Bonnie J. Buratti (For the New Horizons Team, Alan Stern, P.I.) Principal Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech Discovery of Pluto (1930) Percival Lowell (1855-1916) Clyde Tombaugh (1906-1997) Discovery of Pluto’s main moon (1978) The discovery photograph (Pluto + Charon; Charon Is the blob) Christy & Harrington Hubble: July 2012 Styx Kerberos The origin of Charon? The clearest map of Pluto prior to New Horizons (Buie et al., 2010) The Third Zone Pluto’s orbit Neptune’s orbit Triton (Neptune moon) What we expected to see (What we didn’t see) New Horizons Finally, a mission to complete the inventory New Horizons: Mission Objectives • Map surface composition of Pluto & Charon • Characterize geology and morphology of Pluto, Charon & new satellites • Characterize the atmosphere of Pluto and its evolution • Search for an atmosphere around Charon • Map temperatures on Pluto & Charon • Search for rings and additional satellites around Pluto • PLUS... conduct similar investigations of one or more Kuiper Belt Objects New Horizons: Basics Ralph: Visible and IR spectrometer: composition and temperature of surface of Pluto, Charon, and new moons Alice: Ultraviolet spectrometer: atmospheric detection and structure LORRI: Camera to study geology; look for moons and rings REX: Radio science experiment: atmospheric temperature and composition SWAP: Solar wind studies PEPPSI: Energetic particle detector SDC: Student dust counter http://pluto.jhuapl.edu Mission profile Volatile transport The solid lines are no frost transport; the data show sublimation in the bright regions in the past few decades. Leisa spectrometer first results CO Colors of Pluto and Charon Nix and Hydra 42X36 km 55X40 km The magnetosphere of Pluto: It has a tail! Young people (postdocs especially) and women powered the New Horizons project Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter Conclusions and future work • Pluto has a complex geologic history, with evidence for seasonal volatile transport and active processes since its formation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Pluto-New Horizons RTG and Power System Early Mission Performance
    The Pluto-New Horizons RTG and Power System Early Mission Performance Geffrey K. Ottman* and Christopher B. Hersman† Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, Maryland, 20723, USA On January 19, 2006, the Pluto-New Horizons spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) with a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) as the power source and a 30V power regulation and distribution system designed and built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Pluto-New Horizons is the flagship spacecraft of NASA’s New Frontiers program of medium-class interplanetary missions and targets the first reconnaissance of Pluto and its moon, Charon, and the Kuiper Belt. Arrival at Pluto is scheduled for July, 2015 at which time the spacecraft will have traveled 3 billion miles and be almost 32 AU from the sun. Due to the extended mission duration and extreme distance from the sun, a RTG was chosen as the spacecraft’s power source. RTG missions place complexity on the spacecraft power system design due to their unique power characteristics and limited opportunities for test prior to pre-launch field operations. The RTG integration and test with the spacecraft results are presented along with the spacecraft power system performance during launch and in the early mission phase. These in-flight operational results demonstrate a fully functioning power system that will supply the spacecraft with safe and reliable power during the exploration of the farthest reaches of the solar system. I. Mission Description HE Pluto-New Horizons spacecraft is currently en route to Pluto and its moons to perform scientific T reconnaissance of the last unexplored planet in the solar system.
    [Show full text]
  • Planetary Protection and Lunar Activities: Research Salon #4
    Planetary Protection and Lunar Activities RESEARCH SALON #4 | JULY 9 2020 Planetary Protection and Lunar Activities Research Salon #4 | July 9 2020 The Moon Dialogs Research Salons seek to cultivate thought leadership on lunar surface coordination mechanisms to accelerate a peaceful and sustained presence on the Moon. The initiative will focus on advancing concrete approaches to operating standards, norms, and economic foundations, with an emphasis on applied and ‘bottom-up’ approaches, and creating opportunities for voluntary coordination between and amongst industry, government, and academia alike. Planetary Protection and Lunar Activities Panel The fourth Moon Dialogs Research Salon took place on Thursday, July 9, with opening remarks by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine followed by a regulatory and policy roundtable featuring Mike Gold, NASA Acting Associate Administrator for the Office of International and Interagency Relations; Tanja Masson- Zwaan, Deputy Director of the International Institute of Air and Space Law at Leiden University; Lindy Elkins- Tanton, Planetary Scientist and Principal Investigator on the Psyche Mission; and Alan Stern, Planetary Scientist and Chair of NASA’s Planetary Protection Independent Review Board. Jim Bridenstine began his remarks by announcing two new NASA interim directives (NIDs), reflecting NASA’s evolving position on forward and backward biological contamination on the Moon. NASA’s views began to shift in 2009, following the discovery of hundreds of millions of tons of water ice on the Moon, and the possibility of contaminating the Moon with biologicals from Earth. At that point, the Moon was categorized as Category II under the COSPAR Planetary Protection Guidelines, which focuses on preventing forward contamination.
    [Show full text]
  • Alan Stern NASA Associate Administrator Science Mission
    Alan Stern NASA Associate Administrator Science Mission Directorate SMD Organization Associate Administrator (AA) (A. Stern) Deputy AA (C. Hartman) Deputy AA for Programs Senior Advisor for R&A (T. May ) (Y. Pendleton) Senior Advisor for Chief Scientist Science Process & Ethics (J. Mather) (P. Hertz) DCS for ES (J. Kaye - Act) DCS for SS (A. Cheng) Chief of Staff (J. Feeley - Act) Chief Engineer Safety & Mission Assurance (K. Ledbetter) (P. Martin) Management & Heliophysics Earth Science Planetary Science Astrophysics Policy Division Division Division Division Division Dir. (R. Maizel) Dir. (R. Fisher) Dir. (M. Freilich) Dir. (J. Green) Dir. (J. Morse) Deputy (Vacant) Deputy (C. Gay) Deputy (B. Cramer) Dep. (J. Adams) Deputy (R. Howard) Dep - Programs (M. Luther) Mars Program Budget (C. Tupper) Flight (T. Hammer-Act) (D. McCuistion) Policy (M. Allen) Applied Science Administration (D. Woods) (T. Fryberger) Research (J. Kaye) Draft: May 17, 2007 Our Four Core Objectives To Get More Science Done With Our Budget. To Ensure “The Vision” Succeeds. To Promote U.S. Leadership Across All of SMD’s Science Disciplines. To Create a Better Workplace. Planetary Ambitions Repair R&A. Initiate an Outer Planets Flagship. Initiate MSR. Create New Mars Opportunities. Provide More MoO Opportunities. Make JWST Usable for Planetary Science. Recreate Lunar Science. SMD Flight Program NASA Mission Joint NASA - International on US ELV Partner Mission DoD Mission with International Mission Substantial NASA with Substantial NASA Contribution Contribution
    [Show full text]
  • 10 Cool Discoveries About Pluto
    Five years ago, after an epic 10-year voyage of more For the first time ever, the surface of this distant This close-up of Wright Mons, planet was revealed in spectacular, colored detail. one of many potential than 3 billion miles, the SwRI-led New Horizons Pluto’s surface includes towering mountains, giant 1 IT’S CLEAR TO ME THAT THE cryovolcanoes spotted on the mission made history. NASA’s piano-sized spacecraft ice sheets, pits, scarps, valleys and terrains seen surface of Pluto, indicates the nowhere else in the Solar System. SOLAR SYSTEM SAVED THE BEST dwarf planet was, and may flew within 7,800 miles of Pluto revealing a FOR LAST. WE COULD NOT HAVE still be, volcanically active. surprisingly complex, geologically active surface. D024518 6 West of Sputnik Planitia, EXPLORED A MORE FASCINATING scientists think ammonia-rich Scientists continue using New Horizons data to OR SCIENTIFICALLY IMPORTANT cryolava erupted and coated gain new insights about Pluto and Charon and to several thousand square PLANET AT THE EDGE OF OUR kilometers in red-colored understand other Kuiper Belt objects. SOLAR SYSTEM. organic molecules. — SwRI’s Dr. Alan Stern, New Horizons COOL principal investigator D024524 D024525 D024525 DISCOVERIES D024529 Like Earth, Mars and a handful of moons, Pluto hosts active, flowing glaciers. This 50-mile 2 section of the Sputnik Planitia glacier isD024521 covered with thousands of pits and larger circular Pluto’s largest moon Charon also features surprising patterns on the nitrogen ice surface. geological features, indicating a geologically active past. An 7 immense southern plain the size of California gives way to rugged terrain to the north, likely the result of freezing and Chaos (FloatingWater expansion of an ancient ocean beneath Charon’s crust.
    [Show full text]