Wilma's Wrath: Pluto-Bound Rocket Damaged By Hurricane | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

 Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-04.29.24

Airborne-Unlimited-04.23.24

 Airborne-Unlimited-04.24.24 Airborne-FltTraining-04.25.24

Airborne-Unlimited-04.26.24

Tue, Nov 01, 2005

Wilma's Wrath: Pluto-Bound Rocket Damaged By Hurricane

Hangar Door Failed In Spite Of Tougher Wind Rating

That big DING! sound you heard last week came from Florida.

It was the sound of Hurricane Wilma slamming into the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's hangar housing the New Horizon Pluto probe. Specifically, it was the probe itself, sustaining damage from winds clocked at just over hurricane speed. Those winds damaged the hangar and, yes, damaged the probe.

"We're pretty confident this isn't going to be a reason to hold up the launch," said Lockheed-Martin spokeswoman Julie Andrews.

Seems winds of 76 mph were able to breach a hangar door designed to withstand gusts of twice that speed. The 200-foot tall rocket, standing vertically inside, along with some of the ground support equipment, were damaged -- but only slightly, according to Andrews.

As Aero-News reported in September, the New Horizon spacecraft, powered by 24-pounds of plutonium pellets, is scheduled to launch January 11th on a voyage that will take a decade to complete. In the process, it will fly around Jupiter two years from now to get the gravitational boost it needs to make the rest of its trip.

If there is any substantial damage, it'll have to be fixed quickly. The launch window closes February 14th.

FMI: www.pluto.jhuapl.edu

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (04.26.24): DETRESFA (Distress Phrase)

DETRESFA (Distress Phrase) The code word used to designate an emergency phase wherein there is reasonable certainty that an aircraft and its occupants are threatened by grave and i>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.26.24)

Aero Linx: The International Association of Missionary Aviation (IAMA) The International Association of Missionary Aviation (IAMA) is comprised of Mission organizations, flight sch>[...]

Airborne 04.22.24: Rotor X Worsens, Airport Fees 4 FNB?, USMC Drone Pilot

Also: EP Systems' Battery, Boeing SAF, Repeat TBM 960 Order, Japan Coast Guard H225 Buy Despite nearly 100 complaints totaling millions of dollars of potential fraud, combined with>[...]

Airborne 04.24.24: INTEGRAL E, Elixir USA, M700 RVSM

Also: Viasat-uAvionix, UL94 Fuel Investigation, AF Materiel Command, NTSB Safety Alert Norges Luftsportforbund chose Aura Aero's little 2-seater in electric trim for their next gli>[...]

Airborne-NextGen 04.23.24: UAVOS UVH 170, magni650 Engine, World eVTOL Directory

Also: Moya Delivery Drone, USMC Drone Pilot, Inversion RAY Reentry Vehicle, RapidFlight UAVOS has recently achieved a significant milestone in public safety and emergency services >[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Change Display

Headlines Only | Headlines w/ Teasers | View Everything

Advertisement

Top Videos

Airborne 04.29.24: EAA B-25 Rides, Textron 2024, G700 Deliveries

Airborne 04.26.24: Beta Alia 250, SPEEA v Boeing, Anti-Av Climate Attacks

Airborne-Flight Training 04.25.24: eDA40 Progress, LIFT-Tuskegee, U of OK

See All

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC