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Pluto flyby mission wakes up after long sleep nearly 6 billion miles from Earth
Flight controllers said the spacecraft is in great shape and will resume sending science data gathered during hibernation.
- NASA's New Horizons spacecraft awakened from its longest hibernation on June 23, currently located 5.9 billion miles from Earth. Flight controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory confirmed the probe is ready to transmit gathered science data.
- To conserve resources, New Horizons has entered largely unpowered hibernation modes more than 20 times since its 2006 launch, a practice key to the mission's long-lived success across the solar system.
- Alice Bowman, mission operations manager at the Applied Physics Laboratory, said that throughout the sleep, every weekly status report was "green," meaning all was well. The probe is capturing data on shapes and orientations of frozen objects in the Kuiper Belt.
- Data from the Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter is revealing surprising dust levels, said project scientist Pontus Brandt at the Applied Physics Laboratory. The heliosphere boundary shields the solar system from 70% of particles, providing insights into planetary formation.
- Expected to launch in late August, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will explore what exists beyond the Kuiper Belt. NASA program scientist Becky McCauley Rench noted the current mission concludes in 2029 but could continue if the spacecraft remains healthy.
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By Ashley Strickland, CNN A revolutionary mission that explored Pluto and distant objects from the solar system with an unprecedented level of detail has awakened from its longest hibernation to date, and is 5.9 billion miles (9.5 billion kilometers) from Earth. NASA's New Horizons spaceship The post Pluto's overflight mission wakes up after a long dream nearly 9.5 billion kilometers from Earth appeared first on KVIA.
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A revolutionary mission, which explored Pluto and distant objects from the Solar System with an unprecedented level of detail, woke up after the longest hibernation period so far.
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Leaning Left1Leaning Right0Center47Last UpdatedBias Distribution98% Center
Bias Distribution
- 98% of the sources are Center
98% Center
C 98%
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