NASA wants the probe to visit an object in the Kuiper belt

Aug 28, 2015 22:23 GMT  ·  By
Artist's rendering of New Horizons encountering a Pluto-like object in the Kuiper Belt
   Artist's rendering of New Horizons encountering a Pluto-like object in the Kuiper Belt

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida back in January 2006. Earlier this year, in July, it reached the Pluto system on the outskirts of our cosmic neighborhood and flew by the dwarf planet and its accompanying moons. 

Now, NASA wants the probe to focus on exploring other objects in the Kuiper Belt. The spacecraft's potential new target: an orb dubbed 2014 MU69 that sits nearly 1 billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) beyond Pluto.

Mind you, 2014 MU69 has not yet been officially chosen as New Horizons' next target. It's merely been proposed as a worthwhile destination, with NASA scientists now looking at the pros and cons of the mission before deciding whether or not to approve this visit.

It will be a while before the probe reaches 2014 MU69

Supposing NASA researchers agree to let the New Horizons probe visit 2014 MU69 next, it won't be until January 2019 that the spacecraft will actually rendezvous with the orb.

To set it on course to this target, scientists will have to instruct it to perform a series of maneuvers guiding it towards the Kuiper Belt object. To ensure the success of the mission, this maneuvers will have to be completed in the months to come.

“The team needs to direct New Horizons toward the object this year in order to perform any extended mission with healthy fuel margins,” NASA explains.

“New Horizons will perform a series of four maneuvers in late October and early November to set its course toward 2014 MU69, which it expects to reach on January 1, 2019,” it adds.

The reason scientists chose 2014 MU69 as a potential destination for the New Horizons probe's next exploration mission is that, although quite far, this orb is positioned in such way that reaching it would not require all that much fuel.

This means that, when reaching it at long last, the spacecraft will have plenty of fuel left to attempt a proper flyby and complete observations of its appearance and makeup.

So, what do we know about 2014 MU69?

Like the other objects in the Kuiper Belt, 2014 MU69 is a remnant from the formation of our Solar System around 4.6 billion years ago. Together with other such objects, it was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope back in the summer of 2014.

Astronomers estimate the orb measures approximately 30 miles (roughly 45 kilometers) across, which makes it merely 0.5 to 1% the size of Pluto and yet 100 to 1,000 times larger than most comets.

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft now finds itself at a distance of about 3 billion miles (4.9 billion kilometers) from Earth. Once done exploring the Kuiper Belt, the probe will fly past the boundaries of our Solar System and head out into interstellar space.