New Horizons, NASA, USA

The New Horizons mission will help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of the dwarf planet Pluto and by .

Mission Overview: Why Go to Pluto ? Planetary exploration is a historic endeavor and a major focus of NASA. New Horizons is designed to help us understand .

Feel free to subscribe our Documentary HD Channel in HD ( ) A True Story About Planet Pluto Pluto .

New Horizons is the first mission to the Kuiper Belt, a gigantic zone of icy bodies and mysterious small objects orbiting beyond Neptune. This region also is .

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Mission Overview: Why Go to Pluto ? Planetary exploration is a historic endeavor and a major focus of NASA. New Horizons is designed to help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of Pluto and Charon - a "double planet" and the last planet in our solar system to be visited by spacecraft. Then, as part of an extended mission, New Horizons would visit one or more objects in the Kuiper Belt region beyond Neptune.

Science at the Frontier

Our solar system contains three zones: the inner, rocky planets; the gas giant planets; and the Kuiper Belt. Pluto is one of the largest bodies of the icy, "third zone" of our solar system. The National Academy of Sciences placed the exploration of the third zone in general - and Pluto-Charon in particular - among its highest priority planetary mission rankings for this decade. New Horizons is NASA's mission to fulfill this objective.

In those zones, our solar system has three classes of planets: the rocky worlds (Earth, Venus, Mercury and Mars); the gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune); and the ice dwarfs of the Kuiper Belt. There are far more ice dwarf planets than rocky and gas giant worlds combined - yet, no spacecraft has been sent to a planet in this class. The National Academy of Sciences noted that our knowledge of planetary types is therefore seriously incomplete. As the first mission to investigate this new class of planetary bodies, New Horizons will fill this important gap and round out our knowledge of the planets in our solar system.


Ancient Relics

The ice dwarfs are planetary embryos, whose growth stopped at sizes (200 to 2,000 kilometers across) much smaller than the full-grown planets in the inner solar system and the gas giants region. The ice dwarfs are ancient relics that formed over 4 billion years ago. Because they are literally the bodies out of which the larger planets accumulated, the ice dwarfs have a great deal to teach us about planetary formation. New Horizons seeks those answers.


Binary Planet

Pluto's largest moon, Charon, is half the size of Pluto. The pair form a binary planet, whose gravitational balance point is between the two bodies. Although binary planets are thought to be common in the galaxy, as are binary stars, no spacecraft has yet explored one. New Horizons will be the first mission to a binary object of any type.


A Mission with Impact

The Kuiper Belt is the major source of cometary impactors on Earth, like the impactor that wiped out the dinosaurs. New Horizons will shed new light on the number of such Kuiper Belt impactors as a function of their size by cataloging the various-sized craters on Pluto, its moons, and on Kuiper Belt Objects.

Pluto and the Kuiper Belt are known to be heavily endowed with organic (carbon-bearing) molecules and water ice — the raw materials out of which life evolves. New Horizons will explore the composition of this material on the surfaces of Pluto, its moons and Kuiper Belt Objects.


The Great Escape

Pluto's atmosphere is escaping to space like a comet, but on a planetary scale. Nothing like this exists anywhere else in the solar system. It is thought that the Earth's original hydrogen/helium atmosphere was lost to space this way. By studying Pluto's atmospheric escape, we can learn a great deal about the evolution of Earth's atmosphere. New Horizons will determine Pluto's atmospheric structure and composition and directly measure its escape rate for the first time.


The Need to Explore

As the first voyage to a whole new class of planets in the farthest zone of the solar system, New Horizons is a historic mission of exploration. The United States has made history by being the first nation to reach every planet from Mercury to Neptune with a space probe. The New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt - the first NASA launch to a "new" planet since Voyager more than 30 years ago - allows the U.S. to complete the reconnaissance of the solar system.

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NASA's New Horizon spacecraft left Earth in 2006 and is quickly approaching its fly-by of the icy dwarf planet and its moons. Its closest approach will occur on July 14th, 2015.

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In NASA'a second televised briefings on Tuesday, April 14, plans and upcoming activities about the agency’s mission to Pluto that will make the first-ever close flyby of the dwarf planet on July 14 were briefed.

Briefers described the mission’s goals and context, scientific objectives and encounter plans – including what images can be expected and when.

New Horizons already has covered more than 3 billion miles since it launched on Jan. 19, 2006. The spacecraft will pass Pluto at a speed of 31,000 mph taking thousands of images and making a wide range of science observations. At a distance of nearly 4 billion miles from Earth at flyby, it will take approximately 4.5 hours for data to reach Earth.

Participants for the 2:20-3:30 p.m. discussion were:

- James Green, director of Planetary Science, NASA Headquarters
- Glen Fountain, New Horizons Project Manager, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland
- Hal Weaver, New Horizons Project Scientist, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland
- Alan Stern, New Horizons Principal Investigator, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado

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What will we find when we get to Pluto? NASA's New Horizons' team tells Space.com about the discoveries on the horizon for the probe and its far reaching implications.

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The New Horizons mission will help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of the dwarf planet Pluto and by venturing deeper into the distant, mysterious Kuiper Belt – a relic of solar system formation.

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In new imagery of the dwarf planet taken from May 29th to June 3rd, 2015, its "near-true color" is revealed. Charon, also in view, is grey. The images are presented in a 'barycentric view,' with both Pluto and Charon in motion, and a 'Pluto-centric' view, where the icy dwarf is kept mid-screen.

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This movie, from New Horizons’ highest-resolution imager, shows Pluto and Charon as the spacecraft closes in. In the annotated version, Pluto’s prime meridian (the region of the planet that faces Charon) is shown in yellow and the equator is shown in pink. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

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This is the first movie to reveal color surface features of Pluto and its moon Charon. The images were taken by NASA's New Horizons between June 23 and June 29, 2015, from a distance of 24 million to 18 million kilometers (15 million to 11 million miles). Also, some images of Pluto seen through the ages.

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The New Horizons Spacecraft took about 9 years to get to Pluto, but it took 16 years before the mission was even on the launch pad! Here's a brief tale of how the Planetary Society helped keep the Pluto Project alive.

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Dwarf planet Pluto seen from the discovery in 1930 to the New Horizons flyby on 14 July 2015.

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The New Horizons' team and a room full to capacity at the mission's control center outside of Baltimore, Maryland celebrated with the rest of the world at the exact time of the Pluto (7:49 EDT, July 14th, 2015).

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This movie zooms into the base of the heart-shaped feature on Pluto to highlight a new image captured by NASA's New Horizons. The new image, seen in black and white against a previously released color image of Pluto, shows a mountain range with peaks jutting as high as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body.

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NASA officials and team members of the historic New Horizons mission to Pluto provide an update and share the latest developments on the spacecraft during a news conference from NASA headquarters.

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Hydra and Nix were snapped by NASA's New Horizons' mission from a distance of ~600,000 kilometers on July 13th and again on July 14th at a distance of 231,000 kilometer/143,000 miles (Hydra) and 165,000 kilometers/102,000 miles (Nix). The Nix July 14th image was color enhanced using data from the probe's Ralph instrument. Hydra and Nix were snapped by NASA's New Horizons' mission from a distance of ~600,000 kilometers on July 13th and again on July 14th at a distance of 231,000 kilometer/143,000 miles (Hydra) and 165,000 kilometers/102,000 miles (Nix). The Nix July 14th image was color enhanced using data from the probe's Ralph instrument. -- Full Story:
"New Photos of Pluto Moons Nix and Hydra Show Best Views Yet"

by Mike Wall
July 21, 2015

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This is the full extended version of the film I had the honor of making for the National Space Society to promote NASAs New Horizons spacecraft and its historic reconnaissance mission to Pluto and its system of moons on July 14 2015 - the very first exploration of this system in human history.
I got to work closely with the missions principal investigator Alan Stern and I am grateful for his and the rest of his team's confidence in me to make this film.

CREDITS:
Visual Director: Erik Wernquist
Visual Artists: Mikael Hall, Kim Nicosia, Erik Wernquist
Composer: Cristian Sandquist
Colorist: Caj M?ller/Beckholmen Film
Soundmix: H?kan Nilsson/Hajp
The film utilizes photos and textures from: NASA/JPL/CICLOPS/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualisation Studio
This film was made possible through contributions from New Horizons mission partners Aerojet Rocketdyne, Ball Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, and United Launch Alliance.

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“Fly By By,” an educational parody of NSync’s “Bye Bye Bye,” was created by the interns of Johns Hopkins APL’s Space Exploration Sector. It is a tribute to the historic Pluto fly by made by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on July 14, 2015, and to the scientific and engineering achievements of the mission. The lyrics and scenes in this video have been re-imagined in order to inform the public about the Pluto fly by and New Horizons mission.

New Horizons is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

APL designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

Lyrics:
Nine years to see the sight,
At the edge of our sun’s starlight,
Surprise us you just might
New Horizons come on

Pluto’s secrets held so dear,
Composition and atmosphere,
But now the time is here and the power is on.

I know that you can go explore,
Up in the sky,
You want to see KBOs some more,
Pluto fly by, by.
Fly by.

LORRI got some pics of you,
PEPSSI snapped an AWOL ion or two,
Uncover secrets such as when, where, why,
Pluto Fly by, by
Fly by.

We found Pluto has a heart of gold
And a young surface that’s very cold
It might sound crazy,
But it ain’t no lie,
Pluto fly by, by.

(Pluto)
Tombaugh had you in his sight,
Now he’s passed you on a flight.
3.7 billion miles
Pluto come on

In CU Boulder we trust,
That SDC would count the dust,
And Pluto will be much clearer
Once you’re gone.

I know that you can go explore,
Up in the sky,
You want to see KBOs some more,
Pluto fly by by.
Fly by.

LORRI got some pics of you
False color split that heart into two
Uncover secrets such as when, where why,
Pluto fly by by.
Fly by.

APL has got a stellar crew,
It’s got the right tech and people too (ooh, ooh).
It’s not crazy,
And it ain’t no lie,
Pluto fly by by.

Alan Stern is rockin’ the show,
He started preparations 14 years ago.
Fly by.

Don’t give up,
Don’t be signin’ off,
As explained by superstar Shia Labeouf
(Just Do It)

There wasn’t any sway or swerve,
As it observed,
What used to be number 9!
Fly by by

We are making history (history)
And let’s all decree,
What was said by our friend Bill Nye.

Take your mark, get to the gates,
An all new era of exploration awaits (We’re making history)
And it ain’t no lie
Pluto fly by by.

It went fast,
Data’s coming in hot.

Exploring space with only 200 watts

Signal ain’t hazy

Pluto don’t be shy

Fly By Bye

Lyrics Written By:
Erik Goosmann

Choreography:
Johanna Van
Kielan Wilcomb
Erik Goosmann

Vocals:
Madeline Kirk
Johanna Jan
Brianna Young

Audio:
David Vespoint
Dominic Kelly

Camera:
Andrew Harris
Avi Misra

Produced, Directed, and Edited By:
Avi Misra

Cast:
Cassandra Derr
Erik Goosmann
Johanna Jan
Cedric Moore
Jack Quade
Bradly Rutten
Kielan Wilcomb
Brianna Young

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Nearly a year ago, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto, marking the first time a vehicle had visited the dwarf planet. Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission, sat down with The Verge to discuss how the engineering team pulled off the mission and what we've learned from the flyby so far.

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Today, NASA’s New Horizons team received official confirmation that they will get extra funding to extend the mission of their faraway spacecraft, which visited Pluto in the summer of 2015. Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission, explains how the team had already began executing some of the necessary maneuvers.

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