New Horizons
Investigating Pluto and beyond
The New Horizons Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission launched in January 2006 and completed its flyby of the Pluto system in mid-July 2015. Data coming back from New Horizons will help us to understand the icy worlds at the edge of our solar system. The mission is now slated to investigate other objects in the Kuiper belt.
Mission Class:
Larger Missions
Mission Status:
Current
LASP Roles:
Research, Instruments, Data, Mission Operations
Science Target:
Pluto & Kuiper Belt
Mission Focus:
Asteroids, Interplanetary Space, Interstellar Dust, Planetary Atmosphere, Planetary Interior
Primary Mission Site:
Mission Quick Facts
Research
LASP Instruments
Mission Operations
Mission Data
Image Gallery
LASP Leads
Team
Launch Date: January 19, 2006
Closest Pluto Approach: July 14, 2015
Prime Mission: 9.5 years
Extended Mission: 2025
Lead Institutions: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)
Lead Funding Agency: NASA’s New Frontiers program
Partners: Stanford University