Nine AU and haulin ass

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New Horizons Crosses 9 AU

Speeding toward Pluto at about 42,000 miles (67,500 kilometers) per
hour, New Horizons will zip past the orbit of Saturn - where the
Cassini spacecraft now operates - on June 8.
by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) Feb 25, 2008
New Horizons passed a planetary milepost last week when it reached a
distance of 9 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun - about 836.6
million miles, or nine times the distance from the Earth to the Sun.
"The spacecraft destined for the ninth planet is now just beyond 9 AU
and continuing outbound for the solar system's frontier at more than
60,000 kilometers per hour!" says New Horizons Principal Investigator
Alan Stern, of NASA Headquarters.
New Horizons has covered nearly 970.5 million miles (1.56 billion
kilometers) since its launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,
Fla., on January 19, 2006.

Speeding toward Pluto at about 42,000 miles (67,500 kilometers) per
hour, New Horizons will zip past the orbit of Saturn - where the
Cassini spacecraft now operates - on June 8. That crossing will make
New Horizons the farthest spacecraft on its way to or at its primary
target.

New Horizons itself won't have long to enjoy this latest
accomplishment, though, as mission operators will put the spacecraft
into regularly scheduled hibernation this afternoon at 3:50 p.m. EST.

Community


-----I think this is very cool, something that will see while still
alive, with any luck at all.Go, NH, Go!