New Horizons spacecraft sees spots on Pluto, temporarily loses contact with Earth
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029012
Los Angeles Times : On 1 July NASA reported that the New Horizons spacecraft had sent back color images of Pluto in which four mysterious black spots, each about 500 km across, can be seen along the equator. Although no one knows what the spots are, scientists hope to get more information as the craft makes its closest approach ever to the distant dwarf planet on 14 July. However, on 4 July, New Horizons suffered a communications glitch , during which NASA lost contact with it for 1 hour and 21 minutes. Because the spacecraft is some 4.8 billion km from Earth, it takes about 9 hours for messages to travel back and forth. That time delay is exacerbating attempts to fix the problem. Nevertheless, mission controllers say the probe is on course to fly within 12 500 km of Pluto. Scientists hope it will be operating normally by then and able to make some key science observations.
