Topic: New Horizons

2 chapters across the catalog

Thermostat Placebo
Episode 746 1:54:22 - 1:57:47

746: Thermostat Placebo

NASA New Horizons Pluto Data, Transmission Speed Skepticism

Calculations regarding the New Horizons mission to Pluto suggest that transmitting 64 gigabytes of data at the reported slow speeds would take nearly a decade, rather than the 16 months claimed by NASA. This discrepancy leads to skepticism about the mission's technical transparency and funding motives.

Trolling for Majors
Episode 739 18:11 - 22:12

739: Trolling for Majors

NASA New Horizons, Pluto Images, and Data Transmission Rates

NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto faces skepticism regarding the authenticity of its mission control and the quality of released images. Technical details of the spacecraft's 12-watt X-band transmitters reveal extremely slow downlink speeds, ranging from 6 bits to 100 kilobits per second. The delay in receiving high-resolution imagery is attributed to these bandwidth constraints and the vast distance of the probe from Earth.