SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -It was the first mission in NASA’s New Frontiers program, a medium-class, competitively selected, and principal investigator-led series of missions. (The program also includes Juno and OSIRIS-REx.) New Horizons was the first spacecraft to encounter Pluto, a relic from the formation of the solar system.

Detailed explanation-2: -Currently exploring the Kuiper Belt beyond Pluto, New Horizons is just one of five spacecraft to reach 50 astronomical units – 50 times the distance between the Sun and Earth – on its way out of the solar system and, eventually, into interstellar space.

Detailed explanation-3: -On the morning of July 14, 2015, it passed within 7, 800 miles of Pluto. By coincidence, the New Horizons flyby of Pluto occurred exactly 50 years after Mariner 4’s pioneering exploration of Mars.

Detailed explanation-4: -New Horizons observed a large, young, heart-shaped region of ice on Pluto and found mountains made of water ice that may float on top of nitrogen ice. It discovered large chasms on Charon and found that its north pole was covered with reddish material that had escaped from Pluto’s atmosphere.

Detailed explanation-5: -The probe’s lifetime is presently limited only by its nuclear fuel supply, which is likely sufficient to keep New Horizons flying through 2040. And NASA recently granted another mission extension for New Horizons, which will keep the spacecraft going through 2025.

Detailed explanation-6: -In February 2007, New Horizons passed through the Jupiter system at more than 50, 000 mph, ending up on a path that got it to Pluto on July 14, 2015. During the cruise from Jupiter to Pluto, the mission team monitored the health of the spacecraft while planning and practicing for the encounter with Pluto and Charon.

Detailed explanation-7: -NASA’s New Horizons probe flew by Pluto nearly eight years ago, but the epic encounter is still bearing scientific fruit. New Horizons gave humanity its first up-close looks at Pluto on July 14, 2015, when the probe zoomed just 7, 800 miles (12, 500 kilometers) above the dwarf planet’s frigid surface.