NASA’s New Horizons Mission Explores Ultima Thule and Beyond, Changing our Understanding of the Solar System

Launching the Space page on Tuesday (16/04/2024), New Horizons from the American Space Agency (NASA) visited the distant Kuiper Belt object, Ultima Thule (2014 MU69) (now called Arrokoth) in January 2019. Observations from New Horizons continue to change our understanding of solar system objects orbiting far from the sun.

This spacecraft’s extreme distance from Earth makes it the fifth to probe so far from Earth. The other probes are Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, as well as Voyager 1 and Voyager 2.

So far, only Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have traveled this far to enter interstellar space. According to NASA, New Horizons is expected to enter interstellar space in the 2040s.

New Horizons is the first exploration mission of NASA’s New Frontiers. This is considered a middle class mission. Spacecraft usually have a fixed design life, similar to a warranty on electronics or cars.

Over time, solar particles, cosmic rays and other phenomena can damage the surface of a spacecraft or damage its electronics. This makes long missions like New Horizons very challenging, requiring backup systems and power sources (nuclear power) to keep the spacecraft alive far from the sun.

To save energy and reduce the chance of damage, controllers are keeping the spacecraft bound to Pluto in hibernation. The vehicle was “awakened” several times for navigation and system checks.

NASA ordered the probe out of hibernation in December 2014, so they could prepare for a rendezvous with Pluto and send data back to Earth. Among the first images of New Horizons were images of Io, Jupiter’s volcanic moon.

New Horizons captured the clearest images ever taken of Io’s Tvashtar volcano. This image shows volcanic deposits larger than the state of Texas.

Some of New Horizons’ other scientific discoveries include evidence of a subsurface sea on Charon and strange hills of water ice on Pluto that float on frozen nitrogen. In 2018, a study suggested that Pluto may have a layer of asphalt, just below the world’s surface.

Some scientists have also suggested that Pluto may have the ingredients for life on its surface. Even at great distances from the sun.

In September 2017, New Horizons completed a five-month winter period in preparation for the probe’s extended mission. New Horizons took several pictures of Kuiper Belt objects.

Notably, several New Horizons images from 2017 include images of objects 2012 HZ84 and 2012 HE85.

(Tiffany)