Do you think that in about another century the human race will be able
to travel to Pluto? How long would it take to travel to Pluto?
People haven't sent anything to Pluto so
far. But there is a probe that's going to be launched soon that's going
to fly by Pluto and study it. The probe is called the Pluto-Kuiper Express. It's small so
it will be able to travel fast. It should take the probe less than ten
years to reach Pluto.
We can't send humans to Pluto yet. It would take too long and be too
hard to pack things like food for so many years. If we find a way to
travel faster, then we can fly to Pluto.
Submitted by Ashley (age 10, Tennessee, USA)
Submitted by Megan (age 13, Texas, USA)
(September 2, 1997)
Do you think that in about another century the human race will be
able to travel to Pluto? How long would it take to travel to Pluto?
Pluto is the least studied of all the
planets in our solar system. It wasn't even discovered until 1930. It
takes over four hours for Pluto's light to reach us.
It would take us a lot longer than four hours to get to Pluto. It took
the Voyager probes over 20
years to get to Pluto's neighborhood. The planets weren't aligned right
for the Voyager probes to visit Pluto. So far, no man-made probe has ever
visited the planet.
Within the next few years, scientists hope to be able to launch the Pluto-Kuiper Express. This probe is
much smaller than either Voyager spacecraft and will be able to travel
faster. It should reach Pluto in less than ten years.
Human travel to Pluto is out of the question, at least in the near future.
It would take too long and be too hard to pack things like food for so
many years. We need to be able to travel faster so the trip won't take so
long. Then we'll send people to Pluto.
Submitted by Ashley (age 10, Tenessee, USA)
Submitted by Megan (age 13, Texas, USA)
(September 2, 1997)
Do you think that in about another century the human race will be
able to travel to Pluto? How long would it take to travel to Pluto?
Pluto is the least studied of all the
planets in our solar system. It wasn't even discovered until 1930. The
main reason is that it is so far away. At its closest point to Earth,
it's still 4.28 billion km (2.66 billion miles) away! It takes light at
least four hours to travel from Pluto to Earth.
But since we can't travel at the speed of light, how fast would a probe
get to Pluto? It took the Voyager probes about 20 years to
travel to Pluto's neighborhood. Without gravity assists from Jupiter and
the other gas giants, it would have taken about another 20 years.
Soon we will find out how long it takes for a probe to get to Pluto. The
U.S. is launching Pluto-Kuiper
Express around the turn of the century. They expect that it will
take less than ten years for the probe to reach Pluto. This is because
it's smaller and the planets are aligned differently than during the
Voyagers' time.
The prospects for human travel to Pluto are slim for now. In order to
make travelling to Pluto feasible, we need to able to get there faster.
Submitted by Ashley (age 10, Tennessee, USA)
Submitted by Megan (age 13, Tennessee, USA)
(September 2, 1997)
Last modified prior to September, 2000 by the Windows Team
The source of this material is Windows to the Universe, at http://www.windows.ucar.edu/ at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). © The Regents of the University of Michigan. Windows to the Universe® is a registered trademark of UCAR. All Rights Reserved. Site policies and disclaimer