Pluto and the mysterious Kuiper belt beyond are the only parts of the solar system not yet explored close-up by space craft. Because of the small size and great distance of these objects even our best telescopes are unable to gather much information. It is becoming clear that these distant objects could tell us a lot about the formation of the solar system.

The New Horizons mission intends to send a space craft to the outer solar system to study Pluto and its moons and then continue on into the Kuiper Belt to give us a close look at a number of Kuiper Belt objects.

The New Horizons space craft was launched on 19th January 2006 from the Kennedy Space Centre on board an Atlas 5 rocket.

CREDIT: NASA/KSC

Pluto and the Kuiper Belt is a long way from Earth so to complete the journey in a reasonable time speed is an important factor. New Horizons is the fastest man-made object to date. Back in the late 60's and early 70's the Apollo space craft took 3 days to get to the Moon, New Horizons did it in 9 hours!

Just over a year after launch on 28th February 2007 it will reach Jupiter, other space craft have taken 4 years! It will reach Pluto in 2015 and will pass through the Kuiper Belt in 2016-2020.

As it passes Jupiter the space craft will fly close to the planet picking up extra speed from its gravitational field. This called a gravitational slingshot and will put New Horizons on the correct course to encounter Pluto.

For about 8 years after leaving Jupiter New Horizons will cruise through space on its way to Pluto. The time will be used for equipment check outs, course corrections and Pluto encounter rehearsals.

Five months before closest approach to Pluto and Charon observations will begin. Ten weeks before closest approach the cameras on New Horizons will be able to pick out more detail than the Hubble Telescope. Four weeks before closest approach studies will begin in earnest as observations begin on a daily basis.

At closest approach on 14th July 2015 the space craft will be traveling at 14 km/sec with respect to Pluto. Huge amounts of data will be acquired by the instruments aboard New Horizons. Transmitter power, size of the antenna and distance from Earth will limit the rate at which data can be sent so most of the data will be stored until the encounter finishes then transmitted to Earth.

Post encounter studies will continue for 9 months after which all stored data will be sent to Earth.

Then New Horizons will begin the second part of its mission, exploration of the Kuiper Belt.