Comments by "H. de Jong" (@h.dejong2531) on "The journey to Pluto, the farthest world ever explored - Alan Stern" video.

  1. Radio signals travel at the speed of light, 300,000 km/s. Both New Horizons and the receiving station here on Earth use dish antennas to focus the signal in a narrow cone. The antenna here on Earth has a diameter of 70 m, and its receiver is cyrogenically cooled to reduce the noise it produces (making it more sensitive). The data rate is very low (1 kbit/s) at that distance.
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  2. 1. None. The rocket that launched New Horizons also pushed it on its way to Jupiter. It's been coasting ever since. Electric power is provided by a nuclear battery (RTG). 2. No. 3. No. It's headed straight out of the solar system.
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  3. A spacecraft weighing 450 kg on an oversized rocket can get there in 9h. The Apollo flights took 3 days to get to the moon. But the time spent traveling there isn't the issue. A moon base project would be very expensive. It looks like it might get a lot cheaper in a few years though.
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  4. still flying through the Kuiper Belt. It flew by Akkoroth in 2019, the team is looking for another flyby target.
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  5. probably a few more than that. 17 KBOs larger than 600 km diameter (=large enough that they're round if they're primarily made of ice)
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