Pluto Dreaming

It may have been delayed a few times, but eventually it will get launched. I'm speaking about the NASA Pluto Probe of course. Bad weather has grounded the launch temporarily, but I am sure they will launch in the next few days.

I find the whole thing fascinating. What star gazer wouldn't find a trip to any of the planets cool, especially Pluto. Every kid in school loves and dreams of Pluto. I'm sure mostly due to the Disney character namesake, but also due to the fact that it is the furthest known planet and there are no "good" pictures of it- creating a mystery. I, with everybody else, will still have to wait for ten years to finally see a good picture because it will take the probe that long to get there. But as the last couple of decades have flown by so fast, I'm sure it won't seem long. I do, luckily, have a few things to do during that time to keep me occupied.

It is reported that this probe will be the fastest space craft ever. 45,000 miles per hour! According to NASA numbers, that's 10 times faster than a bullet leaving a rifle. I know that has to mean "hyperdrives" and "warp cores" are next. And if those two terms don't get you excited, you probably don't care about the Pluto probe either.

It all sounds exciting, but there is one real irritation about the whole project. It's not the fact that the ship will be carrying plutonium, some people are opposed to this idea; it's the fact this ship can travel from Florida to the moon in nine hours. The Apollo moon missions needed 3 days!. So I have to ask: If space craft have improved so much, why then does it still take me over an hour to drive across the the Salt Lake Valley every afternoon?!!