probe, New Horizons has provided us with the most accurate information and pictures of Pluto, so its primary mission had been accomplished. Now, the spaceship went on his journey into the unknown.
NASA announced that the probe New Horizons made the last of four maneuvers by which is in a straight line to the Kuiper Belt. Scientists predict that the probe will arrive at one of the Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) in January 2019. It is not yet certain because NASA must approve the MU69 2014 as the official number one mission. If everything goes according to plan, the New Horizons approaches the 2014 MU69 more than Pluto (the shortest distance during the flyby of the dwarf planet was 12 500 km.)
Facility 2014 MU69 is roughly on the flight path probe, so there was no need big changes trajectory. Performing even minor adjustments to the trajectory of the probe located more than 5 billion km from Earth, but it was a huge challenge.
– The probe New Horizons is efficient and is on course to explore objects the size of Pluto in the Kuiper Belt. We hope that NASA will accept proposed by us the mission – said Alan Stern, head of the New Horizons mission.
The astronomers are confident that the examination of the Kuiper Belt will shed new light on the past and future of the solar system. We still know very little about this area because there arrives a little sunlight so astronomical observations are difficult.
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