New Horizons heads for flyby of space rock 4bn miles from Earth

[Igel]

3. I find the hoopla amusing.

There'll be this big celebration at the time of flyby.

But no information from the flyby is even possible until hours afterwards.

Even then, much of the juiciest information will be transmitted later.

A bit of space rock could come flying along and splat New Horizons just before flyby, we'd all celebrate, and then realize that it was being splatted as we toasted its great success. It's unlikely, given KB densities, but with a greater than zero chance.

I would find that truly sad.

I'd also find it amusing.

Then again, all we'd know hours after the event is that there was signal loss, and months later, when NH was pronounced "lost" any amusement value would be nil. And somebody would have to say, in all seriousness, "No, no! It was picked up by the Blaringioid Fleet from Iota Camelopardalis VI." No, wait, nobody ever uses the constellation Camelopardalis in science fiction. And they seldom get to "zeta," much less "iota".

Nonetheless, we must have a social media presence.