Related Missions

New Horizons

The New Horizons Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission, launched in January 2006 and due to arrive at Pluto in 2015, will help us to understand the icy worlds at the edge of our solar system. The mission will then visit one or more Kuiper Belt Objects beyond Pluto.

Juno

Launching from Earth in 2011, the Juno spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter in 2016 to study the giant planet from an elliptical, polar orbit. Juno will repeatedly dive between the planet and its intense belts of charged particle radiation, coming only 5,000 kilometers (about 3,000 miles) from the cloud tops at closest approach. Juno’s primary goal is to improve our understanding of Jupiter’s formation and evolution. The spacecraft will spend a year investigating the planet’s origins, interior structure, deep atmosphere and magnetosphere. Juno’s study of Jupiter will help us to understand the history of our own solar system and provide new insight into how planetary systems form and develop in our galaxy and beyond.