Pluto in a Minute: Meet New Horizons' Science Payload

knee rises may just be flying by Pluto but it is doing a lot of science this is Pluto in a minute the new horizon science suite contains seven distinct instruments each of which has multiple sensors for more data gathering capability the spacecraft will return among other things both surface images and maps in both high-resolution black/white images and color images it will also gather composition maps temperature maps topographic information as well as data on Pluto's atmospheric composition what's super neat about New Horizons as a science payload is that it is super light consider that new rises left the earth traveling faster than any other spacecraft has before it's also traveling right now at a whopping at 31,000 miles per hour to be able to go that fast the team had to keep the spacecraft's weight down all seven instruments together actually weigh less than the camera on the Cassini spacecraft that is currently orbiting Saturn the instruments also draw a very low amount of power all seven can be functioning at the same time and draw just 28 watts a second that is half the power needed to illuminate a light bulb during its flyby of Pluto that will last from July 7th to July 16th New Horizons will gather some 44 gigabits of data that will keep scientists both busy and happy for months to come for more on Pluto make sure to check out the new horizons websites and tweet your questions using the hashtag Pluto flyby and of course come back every day for more Pluto in a minute [Music]