This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33531811

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
New Horizons: Signal marks Pluto flyby success New Horizons: Spacecraft survives Pluto encounter
(35 minutes later)
Nasa says its New Horizons spacecraft is "healthy and alive" following its encounter with Pluto. A signal received from the New Horizons spacecraft shows that it survived its historic encounter with Pluto.
Controllers said systems and data looked normal after receiving the probe's first call home since the flyby. Data in its first call home since Tuesday's flyby suggest the spacecraft experienced no upsets as it hurtled past the icy world at 14km/s,
The probe came within 12,500km of the icy world's surface on Tuesday, hurtling past at 14km per second.
The signal came through a giant dish in Madrid, Spain - part of a Nasa network of communications antennas.The signal came through a giant dish in Madrid, Spain - part of a Nasa network of communications antennas.
Received at 01:53 BST, the message took four hours and 25 minutes to traverse 4.7 billion km of space.
There was joy and relief at mission headquarters in Laurel, Maryland as scientists and engineers cheered, hugged each other and waved American flags.
"We are in lock with telemetry from the spacecraft," said mission operations manager Alice Bowman as confirmation was received.
"We have a healthy spacecraft, we have recorded data from the Pluto system, and we are outbound from the Pluto system."
A few minutes later, she added: "I can't express how I feel. It's just like we planned it!"
The first high-resolution pictures from the flyby - with about 10 times the detail of those already published - should be downlinked later on Wednesday.The first high-resolution pictures from the flyby - with about 10 times the detail of those already published - should be downlinked later on Wednesday.
Team members had expressed confidence the flyby would go well, but there was a very small possibility that New Horizons could be lost as it sped through the Pluto system.
Any stray icy debris would have been lethal if it had collided with the spacecraft at its 14km/s velocity (31,000mph).
Relatives of Clive Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto, and James Christy who discovered its moon Charon were present at mission control to witness receipt of the signal.
Follow Paul on Twitter.Follow Paul on Twitter.