export_ofoct.com

[00:00.40] For those of us who grew up with the idea that there were nine planets, this is the moment we get to complete the set.

[00:06.78] Robotic probes have been to all the others - even the distant Uranus and Neptune.

[00:11.29] Pluto is the last of the familiar nine to get a visit.

[00:14.74] Of course, it was demoted to dwarf status in 2006, but this doesn't seem to have dulled anyone's enthusiasm.

[00:22.19] The New Horizons probe will sweep by at high speed, grabbing as many pictures and other types of science data as it can.

[00:29.89] Not just of Pluto but also its five moons: Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra.

[00:35.99] Unfortunately, the vast distance from Earth makes for very weak radio signals, and it's going to take many months to get all the images back.

[00:44.76] Nonetheless, the lead researcher, Alan Stern, says we should be prepared for some remarkable discoveries...

[00:51.14] I like to say that this is in a sense, a return to the kind of space exploration in the sixties and seventies, when everything was completely new - first mission to Venus, first mission to Mars, first mission to everywhere.

[01:03.09] And although new missions, for example to the surface of Mars, teach us tremendous amounts, where people say we re-write the textbook.

[01:10.00] This is an example of not re-writing the textbook - we're gonna write the textbook.