Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

New Horizons space probe heading to Kuiper Belt object in post-Pluto mission

By
After three billion miles and nine years in space, NASA’s New Horizons space probe arrived at Pluto earlier this year and captured stunning images of the most distant planet in our solar system. An astronomer’s dream, these images provided NASA with the closest and most detailed look at Pluto they have ever seen. Last week, NASA compiled the best of these images in
Recommended Videos
a motion video that showcases the probe’s approach, pass-by, and departure from Pluto. But as the agency continues to analyze the Pluto data, it’s also planning the probe’s next fly-by destination, an object named 2014 MU69 in the Kuiper belt that’s almost a billion miles away from Pluto.

NASA hopes to use this next mission to study the composition and other properties of objects that are positioned at the outer edge of the solar system. Astronomers are interested in these Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) because they are the building blocks of Belt planets such as Pluto. This particular object was chosen for the mission due to its size and location. It’s small enough that it has not been modified by geologic processes and is far enough away from the sun’s influence that it likely has maintained its original composition. It also can be reached easily by the New Horizons spacecraft with minimal fuel consumption.

Object 2014 MU69 is thought to be approximately 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) wide, but it could be as large as 45 kilometers (28 miles). It is larger than most comets, but smaller than planets like Pluto, making it an ideal size for further investigation. Just as it did with Pluto, scientists hope to use the high resolution fly-by photos to gain a deeper understanding of the Kuiper Belt and KBOs when the probe makes its pass-by.

Now that a destination has been chosen, NASA has to approve the New Horizons’ project in a proposal that is expected to succeed. Once approved, the probe will start burning fuel later this year as it begins to navigate deeper into the Kuiper belt. It is scheduled to reach object 2014 MU69 on January 1, 2019, and continue on its journey beyond our solar system. It will maintain its course away from Earth until it runs out of power sometime in the 2030s.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Kelly Hodgkins
Kelly Hodgkins
Contributor
Kelly's been writing online for ten years, working at Gizmodo, TUAW, and BGR among others. Living near the White Mountains of…
NASA axes its moon rover project VIPER
NASA’s VIPER – short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover – sits assembled inside the cleanroom at the agency’s Johnson Space Center.

NASA’s VIPER -- short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover -- sits assembled inside the cleanroom at the agency’s Johnson Space Center. NASA

NASA has announced it is scrapping its plans to send a rover to the moon. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, project was intended to search the moon's polar regions for water, but will now be shelved due to budget issues. Originally slated to land on the moon in December 2022, the project had been delayed several times, and the most recent update was that it would not be ready until September 2025.

Read more
NASA’s mega moon rocket has just begun a 900-mile journey
The core stage of NASA's SLS rocket.

NASA’s powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is set to blast four astronauts to space next year on the epic Artemis II mission that will come within about 80 miles of the lunar surface.

In preparation for the mission, the rocket’s 213-foot-tall (65 meters) core stage has just embarked on a rather more leisurely journey -- on a barge heading for the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Read more
Satellite to follow Empire State Building-sized asteroid as it zips by Earth
ESA's Ramses mission to asteroid Apophis

There’s a huge asteroid coming our way in 2029 and the European Space Agency (ESA) wants to track it every step of the way.

Don’t worry, you can look up with confidence, as the 1,230-feet-long (about 375 meters) Apophis asteroid is not on a collision course with Earth. But zipping by at a distance of just 20,000 miles (about 32,000 kilometers), it’ll be coming remarkably close.

Read more