After the Pluto, where will NASA drive New Horizons?

Last July, NASA's New Horizons made history when crossing Pluto to become the first spacecraft of mankind to explore this dwarf planet. Not stopping there, NASA will continue to drive New Horizons further.

The next goal of New Horizons

The next destination that New Horizons will approach is the Kuiper belt , an area with billions of small bodies, most of which freeze and float on the outer edge of the solar system. The specific goal that NASA's New Horizons flight team wants to reach is a Kuiper belt named 2014 MU69. This is one of three potential celestial bodies that NASA considers exploring after Pluto.

The next goal of New Horizons is the Kuiper belt.

Celestial body 2014 MU69 is called PT1 (Potential Target 1) . It is 1 billion miles from Pluto and only about 30 miles wide. Controlling the New Horizons from Earth is difficult, the crew only has a small chance to drive the train in the right direction. If the end of this fall does not complete the orientation, it is likely that New Horizons will miss its goal.

NASA will begin implementing the diversion direction of New Horizons in October. It will turn to PT1 at a distance of 4 billion miles from Earth. If this is done, New Horizons will continue to make a new history. We have never seen anything on the Kuiper belt at close range.

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The bodies in the Kuiper belt are very far from the Sun. Most of them are leftover freezing materials of the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. Studying on the Kuiper belt can help answer questions about our origins in space. What we never knew before could be revealed.

We will see the PT1 close up as New Horizons did with Pluto.

Before the new mission, the New Horizons flight team still had some issues to consider. One of them is relatively important, they need NASA approval to get the next funding for this period.

However, it seems that everyone feels optimistic. John Grunsfeld, head of NASA's Board of Scientific Mission, said in a press release, "We hope that this new mission will cost less than the main tasks. However, it still provides new and valuable scientific data. '

To date, the entire cost of the New Horizons mission has reached about 700 million USD. There has not been a specific number given if the ship is targeting PT1. The entire New Horizons fleet is looking forward to the final decision, hoping to have access to PT1 in 2019 if all goes well.