New Horizons: Difference between revisions
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[[File:New Horizons Transparent.png|thumb|The New Horizons spacecraft.]] |
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[[File:Atlas V 551 roars into blue sky.jpg|left|thumb|The launch of New Horizons on the Atlas V 511.]] |
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'''New Horizons''' is a [[space probe]] launched by [[NASA]] on 19 January 2006, to the [[dwarf planet]] [[Pluto]] and on an escape trajectory from the [[Sun]]. It is the first man-made spacecraft to go to Pluto. Its flight will take eight years. It arrived at the Pluto-[[Charon (moon)|Charon]] system on July 14, 2015. It flew near Pluto and took photographs and measurements while it passed. It is transmitting them back to Earth. |
'''New Horizons''' is a [[space probe]] launched by [[NASA]] on 19 January 2006, to the [[dwarf planet]] [[Pluto]] and on an escape trajectory from the [[Sun]]. It is the first man-made spacecraft to go to Pluto. Its flight will take eight years. It arrived at the Pluto-[[Charon (moon)|Charon]] system on July 14, 2015. It flew near Pluto and took photographs and measurements while it passed. It is transmitting them back to Earth. |
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Revision as of 15:08, 27 May 2016
New Horizons is a space probe launched by NASA on 19 January 2006, to the dwarf planet Pluto and on an escape trajectory from the Sun. It is the first man-made spacecraft to go to Pluto. Its flight will take eight years. It arrived at the Pluto-Charon system on July 14, 2015. It flew near Pluto and took photographs and measurements while it passed. It is transmitting them back to Earth.
The primary mission of New Horizons is to study Pluto and its system of moons. The secondary mission is to study any objects in the Kuiper Belt, if something became available for a flyby.
The space probe set the record for the fastest man-made object ever launched, with the Earth-relative speed of about 16.26 km/s, although, arguably, the Helios probes got a faster Sun-relative speed. It used a gravity assist from Jupiter to get its high speeds without having to burn as much monopropellant (weak rocket fuel) as needed to fly directly to Pluto.
The flight started on 19 January 2006, with the use of a Atlas V rocket to get it into onto an Earth escape trajectory. New Horizons is owned by NASA.[1]
