New Horizons Wakes Up For Close Encounter With Pluto In 2015
After a near decade-long journey, NASA’s New Horizons probe has woken hibernation for the last time as it prepares for its close encounter with Pluto next year.
Mission controllers received the first signal that New Horizons had woken from hibernation at 9:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, with full confirmation coming in at 9:53 p.m. EST. This is the last time the spacecraft will wake from hibernation as it approaches its primary target.
“This is a watershed event that signals the end of New Horizons crossing of a vast ocean of space to the very frontier of our solar system, and the beginning of the mission’s primary objective: the exploration of Pluto and its many moons in 2015,” said New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern.
Launched on January 19, 2006, NASA’s New Horizons mission will perform a flyby of the Pluto and its moons, and is expected to go on to explore Kuiper Belt objects. When it arrives on July 14, 2015, it will be the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and will provide the first close-up images of the dwarf planet.
While still 6 months away from its close encounter with the dwarf planet, the New Horizons probe will begin making observations of Pluto starting on Jan. 15. According to NASA, by mid-May the spacecraft will be able to capture views of Pluto and its moons better than what Hubble Space Telescope has been able to provide.
Read more: http://www.penny4nasa.org/2014/12/07/new-horizons-wakes-up-for-encounter-with-pluto-in-2015/