New Horizons
New Horizons completes the first reconnaissance of Pluto and the first close exploration of a Kuiper Belt object
New Horizons launched on January 19, 2006 toward Pluto system, Kuiper Belt, and outer heliosphere. The 1,054 pounds (478 kilograms) spacecraft carried ralph visible/infrared imager, alice ultraviolet spectrograph, lorri camera, rex radio experiment, swap and pepssi particle instruments, and student dust counter. The spacecraft revealed Pluto's nitrogen glaciers, mountains, haze, and active geology, mapped Charon and smaller moons, then showed Arrokoth to be a contact binary assembled gently in the early solar system before continuing heliospheric observations.
Mission dossier
Flight profile, locations, hardware, and outcome in the same reference format used throughout the archive.
Flight profile
- Launch
- January 19, 2006
Places and recovery
- Destination
- Pluto system, Kuiper Belt, and outer heliosphere
Mission record
- Arrival / encounter
- Pluto July 14, 2015; Arrokoth flyby January 1, 2019
- Operator
- NASA and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
- Mission type
- Pluto and Kuiper Belt flyby spacecraft
- Vehicle
- New Horizons spacecraft
- Launch vehicle
- Atlas V 551
- Spacecraft mass
- 1,054 pounds (478 kilograms)
- Program
- New Frontiers
- Crew complement
- 0
- Science payload
- Ralph visible/infrared imager, Alice ultraviolet spectrograph, LORRI camera, REX radio experiment, SWAP and PEPSSI particle instruments, and Student Dust Counter
- Outcome
- Active
Mission Purpose
2 sources- Characterize Pluto and its moons, fly through the Kuiper Belt to study a primordial object, and continue , particle, dust, and heliospheric observations in the distant solar system.
- Complete interplanetary cruise, , pluto july 14, 2015; arrokoth flyby january 1, 2019, and commissioning of New Horizons spacecraft.
- Operate navigation, power, thermal, telecommunications, autonomy, science instruments, and permanent planetary-data archive systems across the full mission.
- The spacecraft revealed Pluto's nitrogen glaciers, mountains, haze, and active geology, mapped Charon and smaller moons, then showed Arrokoth to be a contact binary assembled gently in the early solar system before continuing heliospheric observations.
Planned Flight Plan
2 sources- January 19, 2006
New Horizons launches
Atlas V 551 sends the spacecraft onto its interplanetary trajectory.
- Pluto flyby July 14, 2015; Arrokoth flyby January 1, 2019
Reach the primary encounter phase
New Horizons spacecraft completes the documented arrival, , , landing, or sample-delivery milestone.
- Commissioning and navigation
Establish science operations
Controllers validate spacecraft health, instruments, navigation, communications, autonomy, and archive processing.
- Science operations
New Horizons completes the first reconnaissance of Pluto and the first close exploration of a Kuiper Belt object
The spacecraft revealed Pluto's nitrogen glaciers, mountains, haze, and active geology, mapped Charon and smaller moons, then showed Arrokoth to be a contact binary assembled gently in the early solar system before continuing heliospheric observations.
Mission Timeline
2 sources- January 19, 2006
Launch
New Horizons departs Earth aboard Atlas V 551.
- Pluto flyby July 14, 2015; Arrokoth flyby January 1, 2019
Primary encounter milestone
New Horizons spacecraft reaches its documented planetary or small-body target phase.
- Science milestone
New Horizons completes the first reconnaissance of Pluto and the first close exploration of a Kuiper Belt object
The spacecraft revealed Pluto's nitrogen glaciers, mountains, haze, and active geology, mapped Charon and smaller moons, then showed Arrokoth to be a contact binary assembled gently in the early solar system before continuing heliospheric observations.
- Recorded outcome
Active
New Horizons's observations and returned materials remain part of the permanent planetary archive.