NASA’s New Horizons robotic probe has received the green light to fly onward to the Kuiper Belt object (KBO) 2014 MU69.
Artist’s impression of New Horizons encountering a massive object in the distant Kuiper Belt. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute / Alex Parker.
2014 MU69, otherwise known as 1110113Y, is a relatively small KBO discovered in June 2014 by astronomers using the NASA/ ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
It is estimated to have a diameter of 30 miles (48 km) — more than ten times larger than typical comets, but only 0.5 to 1% of the size of the dwarf planet Pluto.
As such, 2014 MU69 is thought to be like the building blocks of Kuiper Belt’s dwarf planets.
It orbits the Sun once every 293 years from about 4.1 billion miles out, about half a billion miles further out than Pluto.
“2014 MU69 is a great choice because it is just the kind of ancient KBO, formed where it orbits now,” said New Horizons principal investigator Dr. Alan Stern, from the Southwest Research Institute.
New Horizons’ planned rendezvous with 2014 MU69 is January 1, 2019.
“The New Horizons mission to Pluto exceeded our expectations and even today the data from the spacecraft continue to surprise,” said Dr. Jim Green, NASA’s Director of Planetary Science.
“We’re excited to continue onward into the dark depths of the outer Solar System to a science target that wasn’t even discovered when the spacecraft launched.”
Path of New Horizons toward its next target, 2014 MU69 (nicknamed Potential Target 1, or PT1). Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute / Alex Parker.
New Horizons was originally designed to fly beyond the Pluto system and explore additional KBOs.
“The spacecraft carries extra hydrazine fuel for a KBO flyby,” Dr. Stern said.
“Its communications system is designed to work from far beyond Pluto; its power system is designed to operate for many more years; and its scientific instruments were designed to operate in light levels much lower than it will experience during the 2014 MU69 flyby.”
New Horizons is currently 3.24 billion miles (5.21 billion km) from Earth and 264 million miles (424.9 million km) beyond Pluto, with all systems healthy and operating normally.
