NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft will be able to keep exploring its exotic environs for at least another five years. The agency announced on Friday (Sept. 29) that it will keep New Horizons‘ lights on while it’s still zooming through the Kuiper Belt, the expansive ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune’s orbit. “The New Horizons mission has a unique position in our solar system to answer important questions about our heliosphere and provide extraordinary opportunities for multidisciplinary science for NASA and the scientific community,” Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science…
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NASA’s New Horizons to Continue Exploring Outer Solar System
3 min read NASA’s New Horizons to Continue Exploring Outer Solar System NASA has announced an updated plan to continue New Horizons’ mission of exploration of the outer solar system. Beginning in fiscal year 2025, New Horizons will focus on gathering unique heliophysics data, which can be readily obtained during an extended, low-activity mode of operations. While the science community is not currently aware of any reachable Kuiper Belt object, this new path allows for the possibility of using the spacecraft for a future close flyby of such an object,…
Read MoreNew Horizons Discovers Kuiper Belt “Twins”
New Horizons has spotted two asteroid pairs in the outer solar system. Their existence sheds light on how planets formed. The post New Horizons Discovers Kuiper Belt "Twins" appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MorePlutonian Mounts Aren’t Ice Volcanoes
Careful study of data from the New Horizons mission indicates that an iconic, caldera-looking feature isn’t what it seems. The post Plutonian Mounts Aren’t Ice Volcanoes appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
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