New Horizons is only 1.6 billion km away from Pluto
Last weekend, the New Horizons spacecraft entered the 'home stretch' threshold while on the road to Pluto.
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'Home stretch', in the space science dictionary, only one cruise ship is 1 billion miles away from the target (ie 1.6 billion km).
New Horizons ship and mission lasts 10 years to Pluto
Although New Horizons took another 3 years to reach the dwarf planet, the experts responsible for this mission predicted that the half-ton ship had entered the final stage of the journey since its launch. air in 2006.
It is expected that the nuclear powered spacecraft will send the clearest images of Pluto and the moons on July 14, 2015.
As the fastest craft ever built, New Horizons can pass almost 1 million miles every day. With the ability to break away from the sun's gravity at 34,000 miles per hour, the ship can travel from the earth to the moon in about 6 hours.
In October 2013, New Horizons will be only 500 million miles away from Pluto. By March 3/2015, that distance will be shortened by the distance between the earth and the sun.
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