16 years since the launch of New Horizons to Pluto

On a day like today, 16 years ago, it was NASA It launched one of its longest missions to date when New Horizons blasted off to Pluto on January 19, 2006. The unmanned spacecraft passed close to the dwarf planet at the end of our solar system on July 14, 2015.

The Houston-based Lunar and Planetary Institute used images and data from the mission to create new visualizations of Pluto. According to Space.com.

The mission went deeper into space than any previous mission, taking pictures of Pluto, its moons and the solar system’s outer Kuiper belt, which contains icy bodies that scientists believe are remnants of the formation of the solar system, the planets of our solar system. The Kuiper Belt is located about a billion miles from the orbit of Neptune. According to NASA.

University of California astronomer David Jewett wrote:

The Kuiper belt is important for studying the planetary system on at least two levels. First, the Kuiper Belt objects are likely to be very primitive remnants of the early accretion phases of the Solar System. The dense inner parts of the pre-planetary disk condensed into the major planets. Second, the Kuiper belt is widely believed to be the source of short-range comets. It serves as a reservoir for these bodies in the same way that the Oort cloud acts as a reservoir for long-lived comets.

This is what you need to know:

The New Horizons spacecraft was the fastest at the time, blasting off on its third attempt on January 19, 2006

The New Horizons spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on an Atlas V rocket, at 2 p.m. on January 19, 2006, According to NASA. The flight was delayed twice due to high winds.

NASA announced the launch at the time in a statement that read:

“NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force One in Florida aboard a fast-moving Atlas V rocket.”

houston space center Last year I celebrated 15 years on Facebook.

“This first mission to the Pluto system and the Kuiper Belt has made incredible discoveries about the origins and outskirts of our solar system,” the publication said.

The small probe was loaded with imaging software and scientific equipment, including an infrared and ultraviolet spectrometer, a polychromatic camera, a long-range telescopic camera, two particle spectrometers, a space dust detector, He also wrote Houston Space Center.

“The tiny piano-sized probe weighing 1,050 pounds was powered by a solid-fuel engine on its journey to Pluto. At the time, New Horizons was the fastest spacecraft ever launched, reaching lunar orbit distance in just nine hours and passing by Jupiter after 13 months,” Houston Space Center wrote.

New Horizons has discovered four previously unknown moons of Pluto

New Horizons reached Jupiter about a year after launch and shortened its travel time to Pluto using the massive planet’s gravity, Houston Space Center Books.

“This flyby saved years of time for the flight to Pluto. It also provided opportunities to test spacecraft instruments and the flight capabilities of the Jupiter system,” writes the Houston Space Center.

New Horizons conducted a six-month aerial survey of Pluto and its moons, with closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015.

You can view photos and videos collected by New Horizons here.

Exploring Pluto was a top priority, According to NASA, which describes the Kuiper belt as “a remnant of the formation of the solar system”. In addition to studies of the Kuiper belt, images allowed scientists to identify four previously undiscovered moons of Pluto: Nix, Hydra, Styx and Kerberos. Pluto has five moons and the largest of them, Charon, is the size of Pluto.

“A look at these worlds from a spacecraft promises to tell an incredible story about the origins and outskirts of our solar system,” NASA wrote. “New Horizons is exploring, for the first time, how icy dwarf planets such as Pluto and Kuiper Belt objects have evolved over time.”

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