Media release

From: Australian Science Media Centre

NEWS BRIEFING – Finished: Full recording available below

BRIEFING ALERT - Close encounters of the Pluto kind: Australia captures world first close-ups of Pluto

It's been nine years in the making, but Pluto is finally ready for its close up. At exactly 9:49.57pm (AEST) Tuesday evening NASA's New Horizons spacecraft will make its closest encounter with the dwarf planet. With that, the world will see for the first time what Pluto actually looks like, as the spacecraft flies 12,500 km above the surface, taking detailed measurements and images of the dwarf planet and its moons. CSIRO's Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC), one of only three tracking stations in NASA's Deep Space Network, will be the first place on Earth to receive the closest images as they are sent from space. Contained in the data, which will take 4.5 hours to reach Earth (and up to a year for all the data to be transmitted), could be important clues to the origins of the Solar System. Join us as three experts from CSIRO and the CDSCC take us through the New Horizons mission and the major role Australia is playing in capturing space history.

The briefing will discuss the following issues:

• What is the New Horizons mission
• What is Australia's role
• What this discovery will mean and what we're hoping to discover

SPEAKERS:

• Glen Nagle, Outreach and Administration Lead, Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex and Communications Manager, CSIRO
• Dr Ed Kruzins, Director, Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex
• Dr Lewis Ball, Director, CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science

DATE: Monday 13 July 2015
START TIME: Finished
DURATION: Approx 45 min
VENUE: Online