Missions in Space - New Horizons
Launch - 19 January 2006
New Horizons is a recent mission to the outer Solar system that was launched in January 2006. It will pass Jupiter to undergo a gravitational slingshot boost and make scientific studies in February 2007, eventually reaching Pluto and its moon, Charon, in July 2015. New Horizons aims to understand how Pluto and Charon fit in with the other objects in the solar system.
Artist's impression of New Horizons' encounter with Pluto and its moon Charon in 2015
© NASA
Currently we classify planets into groups, with Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury being terrestrial planets, which are mostly rocky objects. In contrast, the gas giant planets, which include Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, are dominated by thick, hydrogen atmospheres. Pluto and Charon belong to a third category called ice dwarfs that have solid surfaces but, unlike the terrestrial planets, a significant portion of their mass is icy material (such as frozen water, carbon dioxide, molecular nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide).
Artist's impression of New Horizons passing into the Kuiper Belt beyond 2016
© NASA
As part of an extended mission, the spacecraft would then head deeper into the Kuiper Belt to study one or more of the icy mini-worlds in that vast region, at least a billion km beyond Neptune's orbit. Sending a spacecraft on such a long journey will help us to answer basic questions about the surface properties, geology, interior makeup and atmospheres on these distant objects.
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