Tag: New Horizons
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New Horizons to continue mission of discovery with Kuiper Belt encounter
Artist’s impression of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft encountering a Kuiper Belt object. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI/Alex Parker Scientists planning the the next phase of NASA’s New Horizons mission, a robotic craft that completed the first exploration of Pluto in 2015, are going into the flyby of a frozen, faraway city-sized clump of rock on New Year’s Day…
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New Horizons prepares for New Year’s Day 2019 Kuiper Belt Object encounter
A year and a half after its historic flyby of dwarf planet Pluto, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is preparing for its encounter with a second Kuiper Belt Object. Now just two years away from the planned 1 January 2019 encounter with 2014 MU69, New Horizons is in a healthy state as it sails toward the…
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YIR IV: New Horizons returns all data of Pluto, a small world with big surprises
It was the dominant event in spaceflight last year: New Horizons’ rapid-paced, intense scientific investigation of the icy, dwarf planet Pluto – the mysterious little world that once bounded the planets of our solar system. This year, New Horizons completed its transmission of all the data it gathered during the Pluto encounter, information that has revealed…
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Study shows Pluto should be counted among solar system’s ocean worlds
The expanse of Sputnik Planitia, the bright region visible in this image of Pluto, might cover an ocean of slushy water-ice. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI Scientists believe they can explain how an ocean of water is lurking beneath an ice sheet inside Pluto’s prominent heart-shaped region, an iconic frozen landscape discovered during the New Horizons spacecraft’s flyby…
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Final Pluto data transmission received from flyby probe
Artist’s concept of the New Horizons spacecraft transmitting data back to Earth through its 83-inch (2.1-meter) antenna. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI The last bits of data collected during NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft’s speedy flyby of Pluto last year are back on Earth, scientists said Thursday, marking the official end of the probe’s prime mission. It took more…
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New Horizons probe finishes transmitting data from Pluto flyby after 15 months
An artist’s conception shows the New Horizons spacecraft beaming data back to Earth. (Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI) More than 15 months after NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto, the last bit of data captured during the flyby has finally been transmitted back to Earth. NASA said the final transmission was a digital segment…
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How deep does Pluto’s ocean go? Would you believe nine times deeper than Earth’s?
The left side of Pluto’s bright “heart” is known informally as Sputnik Planum. (Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI) Scientists have been saying for months that Pluto could have a salty, sloshing ocean beneath its icy surface, but now they’ve worked out just how deep it could go. The answer? As deep as 60 miles,…
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How Pluto’s methane turned into red ‘spray paint’ on its biggest moon Charon
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution, enhanced color view of Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, just before closest approach on July 14, 2015. Scientists have learned that reddish material in the north (top) polar region – informally named Mordor Macula – is chemically processed methane that escaped from Pluto’s atmosphere onto Charon. (Credit: NASA /…
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Outdated ‘Pluto: Not Yet Explored’ stamp takes spotlight as most traveled postage
The 1991 stamp that served as the rallying cry for the New Horizons Mission to Pluto is “updated” by members of the New Horizons science team on July 14, 2015, the day the spacecraft reached Pluto. (Credit: Bill Ingalls / NASA) We’ve known for years that a 1991 Pluto stamp included on NASA’s New Horizons…
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NASA extends New Horizons mission to Kuiper Belt, tells Dawn to stay at Ceres
Artwork shows the New Horizons probe flying by a Kuiper Belt object known as 2014 MU69. (Credit: NASA) Almost a year after New Horizons’ unprecedented flyby of Pluto, NASA has given the official go-ahead for the probe to fly past another icy object in the Kuiper Belt in 2019. At the same time, the space agency…