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New Horizons mission

New Horizons
New Horizons Transparent.png
New Horizons space probe
Mission type Flyby (Jupiter · Pluto · 2014 MU69)
Operator NASA
COSPAR ID 2006-001A
SATCAT no. 28928
Website pluto.jhuapl.edu
nasa.gov/newhorizons
Mission duration Primary mission: 9.5 years
Elapsed: 11 years, 8 months and 15 days
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer APL / SwRI
Launch mass 478 kg (1,054 lb)
Dry mass 401 kg (884 lb)
Payload mass 30.4 kg (67 lb)
Dimensions 2.2 × 2.1 × 2.7 m (7.2 × 6.9 × 8.9 ft)
Power 228 watts
Start of mission
Launch date January 19, 2006, 19:00 (2006-01-19UTC19) UTC
Rocket Atlas V 551
Launch site Cape Canaveral SLC-41
Contractor United Launch Alliance
Orbital parameters
Eccentricity 1.41905
Inclination 2.23014°
RAAN 225.016°
Argument of periapsis 293.445°
Epoch January 1, 2017 (JD 2457754.5)
Flyby of (132524) APL (incidental)
Closest approach June 13, 2006, 04:05 UTC
Distance 101,867 km (63,297 mi)
Flyby of Jupiter (gravity assist)
Closest approach February 28, 2007, 05:43:40 UTC
Distance 2,300,000 km (1,400,000 mi)
Flyby of Pluto
Closest approach July 14, 2015, 11:49:57 UTC
Distance 12,500 km (7,800 mi)
Flyby of (486958) 2014 MU69
Closest approach January 1, 2019 (planned)

New Horizons - Logo2 big.png

Juno →

New Horizons - Logo2 big.png

New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), with a team led by S. Alan Stern, the spacecraft was launched in 2006 with the primary mission to perform a flyby study of the Pluto system in 2015, and a secondary mission to fly by and study one or more other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) in the decade to follow. It is the fifth of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity that will allow them to leave the Solar System.

On January 19, 2006, New Horizons was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station directly into an Earth-and-solar escape trajectory with a speed of about 16.26 kilometers per second (58,536 km/h; 36,373 mph). After a brief encounter with asteroid 132524 APL, New Horizons proceeded to Jupiter, making its closest approach on February 28, 2007, at a distance of 2.3 million kilometers (1.4 million miles). The Jupiter flyby provided a gravity assist that increased New Horizons' speed; the flyby also enabled a general test of New Horizons' scientific capabilities, returning data about the planet's atmosphere, moons, and magnetosphere.


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