"was built on the approach used by the Discovery and Explorer Programs of principal investigator-led missions. It is designed for medium-class missions that cannot be accomplished within the cost and time constraints of Discovery, but are not as large as Flagship-class missions. There are currently three New Frontiers missions in progress. New Horizons was launched on January 19, 2006 and flew by Pluto in July 2015. A flyby of 2014 MU69 will take place in 2019. Juno was launched on August 5, 2011 and entered orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016. OSIRIS-REx, launched on September 8, 2016, plans on"
"afar. On August 28, 2015, (PT1) was chosen as the flyby target. The necessary course adjustment was performed with four engine firings between October 22 and November 4, 2015. The flyby is scheduled for January 1, 2019. Funding was secured on July 1, 2016. Aside from its flyby of , the extended mission for ""New Horizons"" calls for the spacecraft to conduct observations of, and look for ring systems around, between 25 and 35 different KBOs. In addition, it will continue to study the gas, dust and plasma composition of the Kuiper belt before the mission extension ends in 2021."
"2015, because the two cameras on the HST used for these maps were no longer in service. The ""New Horizons"" spacecraft, which flew by Pluto in July 2015, is the first and so far only attempt to explore Pluto directly. Launched in 2006, it captured its first (distant) images of Pluto in late September 2006 during a test of the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager. The images, taken from a distance of approximately 4.2 billion kilometers, confirmed the spacecraft's ability to track distant targets, critical for maneuvering toward Pluto and other Kuiper belt objects. In early 2007 the craft made use"
"approximately 4.2 billion kilometers, confirmed the spacecraft's ability to track distant targets, critical for maneuvering toward Pluto and other Kuiper belt objects. In early 2007 the craft made use of a gravity assist from Jupiter. On 4 February 2015, NASA released new images of Pluto (taken on 25 and 27 January) from the approaching probe. ""New Horizons"" was more than away from Pluto when it began taking the photos, which showed Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. On 20 March 2015, NASA invited the general public to suggest names for surface features that will be discovered on Pluto and Charon."
"After an intense political battle, a mission to Pluto dubbed ""New Horizons"" was granted funding from the United States government in 2003. ""New Horizons"" was launched successfully on 19 January 2006. In early 2007 the craft made use of a gravity assist from Jupiter. Its closest approach to Pluto was on 14 July 2015; scientific observations of Pluto began five months prior to closest approach and continued for 16 days after the encounter. Until the advent of space travel, objects in the asteroid belt were merely pinpricks of light in even the largest telescopes, their shapes and terrain remaining a"
"14, 2015, the ""New Horizons"" spacecraft became the first spacecraft to fly by Pluto. During its brief flyby, ""New Horizons"" made detailed measurements and observations of Pluto and its moons. In September 2016, astronomers announced that the reddish-brown cap of the north pole of Charon is composed of tholins, organic macromolecules that may be ingredients for the emergence of life, and produced from methane, nitrogen and other gases released from the atmosphere of Pluto and transferred about to the orbiting moon. In the 1840s, Urbain Le Verrier used Newtonian mechanics to predict the position of the then-undiscovered planet Neptune after"
"time for radio signals between Earth and ""New Horizons"" will be 6 hours. The first image from ""New Horizons"" was taken on , more than four months before the flyby. If obstacles are detected, the spacecraft has the option of diverting to a more distant rendezvous until mid-December 2018. The science objectives of the flyby include characterizing the geology and morphology of , mapping the surface composition (searching for ammonia, carbon monoxide, methane, and water ice). Searches will be conducted of the surrounding environment to detect possible orbiting moonlets, a coma, or rings. ""New Horizons"" made its first detection of"
"flew by Pluto on July 14, 2015. Beyond the Pluto flyby, the mission's goal was to locate and investigate other, farther objects in the Kuiper belt. On October 15, 2014, it was revealed that ""Hubble"" had uncovered three potential targets, provisionally designated PT1 (""potential target 1""), PT2 and PT3 by the ""New Horizons"" team. The objects' diameters were estimated to be in the 30–55 km range; too small to be seen by ground telescopes, at distances from the Sun of 43–44 AU, which would put the encounters in the 2018–2019 period. The initial estimated probabilities that these objects were reachable"
"currently three New Frontiers missions in progress: ""New Horizons"", which was launched in 2006 and reached Pluto in 2015, ""Juno"", which was launched in 2011 and entered Jupiter orbit in 2016, and ""OSIRIS-REx"", launched in September 2016 towards asteroid Bennu for detailed studies from 2018 to 2021 and a sample return to Earth in 2023. The New Frontiers program was developed and advocated by NASA and granted by Congress in CY 2002 and 2003. This effort was led by two long-time NASA executives at Headquarters at that time: Edward Weiler, Associate Administrator of Science, and Colleen Hartman, Solar System Exploration"
"probe, en route to Pluto, flew by Jupiter for a gravity assist and was the first probe launched directly towards Jupiter since the ""Ulysses"" in 1990. Its Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) took its first photographs of Jupiter on September 4, 2006. The spacecraft began further study of the Jovian system in December 2006, and made its closest approach on February 28, 2007. Although close to Jupiter, ""New Horizons"" instruments made refined measurements of the orbits of Jupiter's inner moons, particularly Amalthea. The probe's cameras measured volcanoes on Io, studied all four Galilean moons in detail, and made long-distance studies"
"15 minutes after ""New Horizon"" closest approach, from a distance of 18,000 kilometers and sent to Earth on 13 September 2015 show a near-sunset on Pluto with details of the surface and a haze in the atmosphere. No follow-up missions to ""New Horizons"" have been formally planned, but at least two mission concepts have been studied. In April 2017, a workshop met in Houston, Texas to discuss ideas for a follow-up mission. Possible objectives discussed by the group for a follow-up mission include mapping the surface at 30 feet per pixel, observations of Pluto's smaller satellites, observations of how Pluto"
"Weiler stated that it was a result that ""[his] administration was not going to fight"". Funding for the mission was finally secured following the publication of the report, and Stern's team were finally able to start building the spacecraft and its instruments, with a planned launch in January 2006 and arrival at Pluto in 2015. Alice Bowman became Mission Operations Manager. ""New Horizons"" is the first mission in NASA's New Frontiers mission category, larger and more expensive than the Discovery missions but smaller than the Flagship Program. The cost of the mission (including spacecraft and instrument development, launch vehicle, mission"
"flight time was possible. A flyby of Neptune's Triton was also considered, with 66652 Borasisi as a potential follow on. was also considered to be visited, having a similar flight plan as Lempo. A selection of some trans-Neptunian objects New Horizons 2 New Horizons 2 (also New Horizons II, NHII, or NH2) was a proposed mission to the trans-Neptunian objects by NASA. It was conceived as a planetary flyby mission in 2002, based on the ""New Horizons"" spacecraft, which was in development at the time. In March 2005, the proposal was not selected for further development because of a shortage"
"spacecraft launch. New Horizons was launched by its stack in January 2006, and the Star 48B booster was launched along with the New Horizons's spacecraft on an escape trajectory out of the Solar System. The Star 48B ignited and burned for 48-seconds, taking both on a trajectory past Pluto; however because the Star 48B became derelict and did not have course corrections like the NH spacecraft, it would be projected to miss Pluto by hundreds of millions of miles. ""New Horizons"" Star 48B was calculated to arrive at planet Jupiter 6 hours before ""New Horizons"", and on Oct 15, 2015"
", which is smaller than the other potential targets of the ""New Horizons"" probe. A potential encounter with the probe initially looked more feasible for than for , but follow-up observations eventually ruled out as a potential target. The potential targets for the ""New Horizons"" probe were PT1 and PT3, the KBOs and , and the probe has sufficient fuel to maneuver to either PT1 or PT3. Potential target PT2, the KBO , is no longer under consideration as a potential target. On 28 August 2015, the ""New Horizons"" team announced the selection of as the next flyby target. 2014"
"of 26.3, which is too faint to be observed by ground-based telescopes. Preliminary observations by the HST searching for KBO flyby targets for the ""New Horizons"" probe started in June 2014, and more intensive observations continued in July and August. was first discovered in observations on July 30, 2014, but it was designated e31007AI at the time, nicknamed e3 for short. Its existence as a potential target of the ""New Horizons"" probe was revealed by NASA in October 2014 and designated PT2, but the official name was not assigned by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) until March 2015 after better"
"team using the Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory on Hawaii. After the ""New Horizons"" probe completed its flyby of Pluto, the probe is to be maneuvered to a flyby of at least one Kuiper belt object. Several potential targets were under consideration for the first such flyby. has an estimated mean-diameter between 30 and 55 kilometers, depending on the body's assumed albedo. The potential encounter in 2018–2019 would have been at a distance of 43–44 AU from the Sun. The potential targets for the ""New Horizons"" probe are PT1 and PT3, the KBOs and , and the probe has"
"August. They were conducted with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope; the object's apparent magnitude of 26.4 is too faint to be observed by ground-based telescopes. was first discovered in observations on August 6, 2014, and it was designated g12000JZ at the time, nicknamed g1 for short. Its existence as a potential target of the ""New Horizons"" probe was revealed by NASA in October 2014 and it was designated PT3; its official provisional designation, , was not assigned by the Minor Planet Center until March 2015 after better orbit information was available. is a trans-Neptunian object. More specifically, it"
"2000, the ""Cassini"" probe flew by Jupiter on its way to Saturn, and provided some of the highest-resolution images ever made of the planet. The ""New Horizons"" probe flew by Jupiter for a gravity assist en route to Pluto. Its closest approach was on February 28, 2007. The probe's cameras measured plasma output from volcanoes on Io and studied all four Galilean moons in detail, as well as making long-distance observations of the outer moons Himalia and Elara. Imaging of the Jovian system began September 4, 2006. The first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter was the ""Galileo"" probe, which entered orbit"
"were Neptune trojans. The probe's trajectory to Pluto passed near Neptune's trailing Lagrange point (""""), which may host hundreds of bodies in 1:1 resonance. In late 2013, ""New Horizons"" passed within of the high-inclination L5 Neptune trojan , which was identified shortly before by the New Horizons KBO Search survey team while searching for more distant objects for ""New Horizons"" to fly by after its 2015 Pluto encounter. At that range, would have been bright enough to be detectable by ""New Horizons"" LORRI instrument; however, the ""New Horizons"" team eventually decided that they would not target for observations because the"
"remembered, ""though he's got to go one long, cold trip."" The call eventually led to the launch of the ""New Horizons"" space probe to Pluto in 2006. Following the passage on July 14, 2015 of Pluto by the ""New Horizons"" spacecraft the ""Cold Heart of Pluto"" was named Tombaugh Regio. Tombaugh died on January 17, 1997, when he was in Las Cruces, New Mexico, at the age of 90. He was cremated. A small portion of his ashes was placed aboard the ""New Horizons"" spacecraft. The container includes the inscription: ""Interred herein are remains of American Clyde W. Tombaugh, discoverer"
"October 2014, but the official name was not assigned by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) until March 2015 after better orbit information was available. The parameters of the orbit have the extremely large uncertainty of 9 because follow-up observations after discovery eliminated as a potential target of the ""New Horizons"" probe, and no further follow-up observations were made. Having completed its flyby of Pluto, the ""New Horizons"" space probe will be maneuvered for a flyby of at least one Kuiper belt object (KBO). There were several potential targets considered for the first such flyby. Potential target has a diameter between"
"of a gravity assist from Jupiter. ""New Horizons"" made its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, after a 3,462-day journey across the Solar System. Scientific observations of Pluto began five months before the closest approach and continued for at least a month after the encounter. Observations were conducted using a remote sensing package that included imaging instruments and a radio science investigation tool, as well as spectroscopic and other experiments. The scientific goals of ""New Horizons"" were to characterize the global geology and morphology of Pluto and its moon Charon, map their surface composition, and analyze Pluto's neutral"
"leave the Solar System. On January 19, 2006, ""New Horizons"" was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station by an Atlas V rocket directly into an Earth-and-solar escape trajectory with a speed of about . At launch, it was the fastest probe ever launched from Earth, but was beaten by the Parker Solar Probe on 12 August 2018. After a brief encounter with asteroid 132524 APL, ""New Horizons"" proceeded to Jupiter, making its closest approach on February 28, 2007, at a distance of . The Jupiter flyby provided a gravity assist that increased ""New Horizons"" speed; the flyby also enabled"
"or less. ""New Horizons"" Principal Investigator Alan Stern has informally suggested missions that would flyby the planets Uranus or Neptune before visiting new KBO targets, thus furthering the exploration of the Kuiper belt while also visiting these ice giant planets for the first time since the ""Voyager 2"" flybys in the 1980s. Quaoar would make a particularly attractive flyby target for a probe tasked with exploring the interstellar medium, as it currently lies near the heliospheric nose; Pontus Brandt at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and his colleagues have studied a probe that would flyby Quaoar in the 2030s before"
"New Horizons 2 New Horizons 2 (also New Horizons II, NHII, or NH2) was a proposed mission to the trans-Neptunian objects by NASA. It was conceived as a planetary flyby mission in 2002, based on the ""New Horizons"" spacecraft, which was in development at the time. In March 2005, the proposal was not selected for further development because of a shortage of plutonium-238 needed for the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG). The ""New Horizons 2"" study was funded out of the New Frontiers program, and was delivered to the U.S. Congress in June 2005. ""New Horizons 2"" was included in the"
"and November 2015, ""New Horizons"" is on course toward . The flyby will occur on 1 January 2019, which will make it the farthest object in the Solar System ever to be visited by a spacecraft. On 13 March 2018, NASA announced that would receive the nickname Ultima Thule. The decision was based on the results of a public voting campaign. Ultima Thule, or Ultima for short, serves as an unofficial name for the object until the discovery team proposes an official name to the IAU that is consistent with existing naming guidelines. The ""New Horizons"" team has decided not"
"a size range of 1200–3700 km for an object of magnitude of 1.0. The only mission to date that primarily targeted a trans-Neptunian object was NASA's New Horizons, which was launched in January 2006 and flew by the Pluto system in July 2015. Other missions have recently been proposed, including orbital capture and multi-target scenarios. The existence of planets beyond Neptune, ranging from less than an Earth mass (Sub-Earth) up to a brown dwarf has been often postulated for different theoretical reasons to explain several observed or speculated features of the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud. It was recently"
", followed by another TCM, almost three years later on June 30, 2010, that lasted 35.6 seconds, when ""New Horizons"" had already reached the halfway point (in time traveled) to Pluto. During the week of February 20, 2006, controllers conducted initial in-flight tests of three onboard science instruments, the Alice ultraviolet imaging spectrometer, the PEPSSI plasma-sensor, and the LORRI long-range visible-spectrum camera. No scientific measurements or images were taken, but instrument electronics, and in the case of Alice, some electromechanical systems were shown to be functioning correctly. On April 7, 2006, the spacecraft passed the orbit of Mars, moving at"
"2015, on August 21, 2012, the team announced that they would spend mission time attempting long-range observations of the Kuiper belt object temporarily designated VNH0004 (now designated ), when the object was at a distance from ""New Horizons"" of . The object would be too distant to resolve surface features or take spectroscopy, but it would be able to make observations that cannot be made from Earth, namely a phase curve and a search for small moons. A second object was planned to be observed in June 2015, and a third in September after the flyby; the team hoped to"
"Earth with samples. Power and propulsion would come from the bimodal MITEE nuclear reactor system. After an intense political battle, a revised mission to Pluto called ""New Horizons"" was granted funding from the US government in 2003. ""New Horizons"" was launched successfully on 19 January 2006. The mission leader, S. Alan Stern, confirmed that some of the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh, who died in 1997, had been placed aboard the spacecraft. ""New Horizons"" captured its first (distant) images of Pluto in late September 2006, during a test of the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager. The images, taken from a distance of"
"to go forward with the formal naming process until after the flyby, when the properties of are known well enough to choose a suitable name. On 26 June, 2014, was discovered using the Hubble Space Telescope during a preliminary survey to find a suitable Kuiper belt object for the ""New Horizons"" probe to fly by. The discovery required the use of the Hubble Space Telescope, because ground-based observations had not found a Kuiper belt object in the zone of space that can be accessed by ""New Horizons"". With an apparent magnitude of nearly 27, is too faint for all but"
"oscillator. When the Cassini spacecraft flew by Jupiter in 2000, it conducted coordinated measurements with Galileo. New Horizons passed close to Jupiter in 2007, carrying out a unique investigation of the Jovian magnetotail, traveling as far as 2500 ""R"" along its length. In July 2016 Juno was inserted into Jupiter orbit, its scientific objectives include exploration of Jupiter's polar magnetosphere. The coverage of Jupiter's magnetosphere remains much poorer than for Earth's magnetic field. Further study is important to further understand the Jovian magnetosphere's dynamics. In 2003, NASA conducted a conceptual study called ""Human Outer Planets Exploration"" (HOPE) regarding the future"