The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 18, 2006, Page 7, Image 7
NASA launch of Pluto probe delayed because of high winds
IDilte Schneider
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —
High winds forced NASA to
scrub the launch Tuesday of
an unmanned spacecraft on
a mission to Pluto, the solar
system’s last unexplored
planet.
NASA planned to try
again Wednesday to launch
the New Horizons probe,
although the forecast held
a 40 percent chance of
thunderstorms, clouds and
gusty winds that could
prevent a launch.
A successful journey to
Pluto would complete an
exploration of the planets
started by NASA in the
early 1960s with unmanned
missions to observe Mars,
Mercury and Venus.
“What we know about
Pluto today could fit on the
back of a postage stamp,”
Colleen Hartman, a deputy
associate administrator at
NASA, said earlier. “The
textboqks will be rewritten
after this mission is
I completed.”
The launch also drew
attention from opponents of
nuclear power because the
spacecraft is powered by 24
pounds of plutonium, whose
natural radioactive decay
will generate electricity for
the probe’s instruments.
Pluto is the only planet
discovered by a U.S. citizen,
though some astronomers
dispute Pluto’s right to be
called a planet.
It is an oddball icy dwarf
unlike the rocky planets of
► Mercury, Venus, Earth and
Mars and the gaseous planets
of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus
and Neptune.
TOPPER • CORTinUED PROIT) I
“It’s fascinating to find out
who came here first, and to
see how this site fits in with
those all over the States,”
she said. “In such a small
little town, something of
such great importance was
found.”
The 1998 discovery
happened by accident.
^ Goodyear had worked at the
Topper site in the early 1980s,
where he found thousands
of Clovis artifacts, but he
didn’t believe any further
discoveries would be made
there. Because the Savannah
River was in a flood stage
in 1998, his original plans
had to be set aside. Digging
deeper at the Topper site,
Goodyear and his team
began to uncover startling
artifacts.
ltwas big-timeconrusion,
he said. “I was finding stuff I
didn’t believe in.”
His discoveries attracted
nationwide media attention,
P from news outlets such as
the New York Times, CNN
and PBS. The Topper site
has been or will be featured
in Newsweek, Discover and
Time magazines. Recently
it has been added to new
archaeology textbooks,
along with sites that have
made similar discoveries:
Cactus Hill in Virginia and
Meadowcroff Rockshelter in
Pennsylvania.
Physicists and astronomers
are also studying the Topper
site, but for a different reason.
»They are researching the soil
to test for extraterrestrial
carbonized glass that may
have come from a comet that
hit North America thousands
of years ago. If they prove
a comet did strike the
continent, it could explain
what happened to the Clovis
people as well as help date
the artifacts Goodyear’s team
continues to uncover.
Any interested student or
member of the community
can sign up to volunteer for
ope of the five weeks in May
when the dig takSs place.
“My dad would be
absolutely thrilled to
see this,” said Annette
Tombaugh-Sitze, whose
father, astronomer Clyde
Tombaugh, discovered Pluto
in 1930.
Pluto is the brightest body
in a zone of the solar system
known as the Kuiper Belt,
made up of thousands of icy,
rocky objects, including tiny
planets whose development
was stunted by unknown
causes.
Scientists believe studying
those “planetary embryos”
can help them understand
how planets were formed.
“Something, and we don’t
understand what ... stopped
that process of growth and
left us with this fantastic
relic, this forensic evidence
of planets that were arrested
in the midstage of growth,”
said Alan Stern, the $700
million mission’s principal
investigator.
An Atlas V rocket had been
programed to speed New
Horizons away from Earth
at 36,000 mph, the fastest
launch speed on record.
Once launched, the craft
will reach Earth’s moon in
about nine hours and arrive
in 13 months at Jupiter,
where it will use the giant
planet’s gravity as a slingshot,
shaving five years off the 3
billion-mile trip.
Some NASA safety
managers had raised
concerns about a rocket
fuel tank since a similar test
tank failed a factory pressure
evaluation.
The decision was made to
fly since the flight tank was
in pristine condition and
had no signs of any defects
like the ones found on the
test tank, said NASA launch
director Omar Baez.
Thirty anti-nuclear
protesters showed up recently
to oppose this mission’s
plutonium-powered
generator, compared to
hundreds who protested
the launch more than eight
years of the Cassini mission
to Saturn, which carried 72
pounds of plutonium.
The two Mars rovers,
Spirit and Opportunity, sent
up in 2003, had much smaller
amounts of plutonium,
which also was used on six
Apollo flights.
NASA and the Department
of Energy estimated the
probability of a launch
accident that could release
plutonium at 1 in 350.
As a precaution, the
agencies brought in 16
mobile field teams that can
detect radiation and 33 air
samplers and monitors.
John Raoux / The Associated Press
The Atlas V rocket that will carry the New Horizons spacecraft to Pluto sits on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space
Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Monday. The spacecraft was set to launch Tuesday but was delayed because of
high winds. Atlas V will take nine to 14 years to reach Pluto. It is powered by 24 pounds of plutonium.
And for those who want to
see the Topper site but don’t
want to volunteer, free tours
are given every Saturday
during the dig from 10 a.m.
to noon.
For more information
about the Topper site, visit
the Archaeology Institute
near the corner of Pendleton
and Marion Streets.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecocknews@gwm. sc. edu
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