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NASA OKs Extended Mission to Kuiper Belt; Next Flyby Slated for 2019

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Pluto and its plutoids

Artist’s depiction of Pluto surrounded by a swarm of plutoids

NASA has given the green light to an extension of the current mission to the Kuiper Belt. After the historic flyby of planet Pluto last year, New Horizon spacecraft will perform another one within the belt.

New Horizon’s Next Stop

The next destination is called 2014 MU69, a mysterious Kuiper belt object located one billion miles away from the dwarf planet, which should be reached in 2019.

NASA scientists also plan to visit 20 more objects afterwards, or at least this is what mission investigator Allan Stern has said in April.

The space agency reassured us that the probe is fully operational, and could last 20 more years. The tiny craft will continue to collect scientific data deeper into the Kuiper Belt. Mission members acknowledged that Pluto flyby exceeded their expectations as they are still surprised by the data gathered back then.

A Challenging Mission

New Horizons data challenged past theories and computer models suggesting that Pluto is a cold dead world. In fact, the mission revealed that Pluto is geologically active under its icy crust and looks a lot more diverse than scientists have managed to imagine.

NASA’s Jim Green expressed his excitement over the extended mission to the “dark depths of the outer solar system” and explained that scientists had no knowledge of object 2014 MU69’s existence in 2006, when New Horizon was launched.

Among Kuiper Belt’s denizens, scientists explained, lie Pluto, comets, icy moons, and possibly other dwarf planets awaiting to be discovered. Pluto was relatively easy to spot as it is located on the outer reaches of the belt.

Dan Britt, a physicist from the University of Central Florida, described a mission to the Kuiper Belt as a “great frontier” of planetary science. Britt was recently picked to become a New Horizons science team member and study the new objects that will be discovered within the Kuiper Belt. He is now analyzing the geology of several icy leftovers inside the belt.

Scientists believe that the space rocks there may hold important clues to the creation of the solar system.

More missions to come

On Friday, NASA approved extension of other deep space missions including several Mars missions and a probe designed to orbit the Moon. Dawn spacecraft was ordered this week to continue its trip around dwarf planet Ceres. NASA scientists had hoped to move Dawn to an asteroid called Adeona since it has orbited Ceres for four years now.
Image Source: YouTube

 

Dawn Spacecraft: A Few Inches Away from Ceres Orbit

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Dawn Ceres mission

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is all set to touch the surface of Ceres on 6th March.  Presently, the space probe is only few inches away from the dwarf planet.

Robert Mase, project manager for the Dawn mission, discussed the current situation of the probe. He expresses that the spacecraft is all gears up to mark a new history in the arena of space.  Scientists cannot wait to investigate Ceres

The Ceres is the largest object present in the asteroid belt. The dwarf planet was first discovered in 1801. It is located between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars.  It is entirely composed of ice and rock particles.

Dawn has snapped new incredible images of Ceres. The images reveal presence of two mysterious craters with bright spots. However, astronomers believe that the craters are an outcome of changes in surface.  Nonetheless, it is too early to say anything with surety.

Jim Green, a scientist of NASA’s planetary department, informs that investigation of Ceres will permit scientist to carry out historical space research. The information will begin a new chapter in the history of solar system.

Up till now, the spacecraft has captured numerous navigational images of Ceres. This is the first time when scientists received such high resolution images from any spacecraft.

NASA Dawn Probe Gets Closer Look of Ceres, Sends Incredible Images

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Ceres image

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft safely reached near Ceres. The spacecraft captured some incredible images of the dwarf planet.

Ceres is the largest object present in the asteroid belt of Mars and Jupiter. It is made up of fragments of rock and ice. It covers a third of the mass of asteroid belt with a diameter of 950 kilometers

Scientists describe Ceres as an “embryonic planet” as it is an extremely complex task for the researchers to categorize the dwarf planet. The object is not a moon, not a planet or an asteroid. Scientists discovered that the dwarf planet is the combination of all these three things. Hence, the government space agency thinks that Ceres will offer significant information related to the formation of solar system.

In 2004, the Hubble Space telescope snapped a few images of the dwarf planet.  The images come with a resolution of 27 pixels from a long distance of nearly 383,000 kilometers.  Thus, those images were pretty rough in terms of quality.

Dawn Ceres images

Recently, dawn captured a few images of Ceres that are around 80 percent of the resolution of the Hubble Telescope. The images reveal that Ceres is nearly three times better than shown in all the previous images. However, the images published on the website of the space agency are grainy.

Andreas Nathues, head investigator at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research informs that these are first images which are merely captured to get help in navigation. They will be utilized for the direction guidance of the spacecraft. The images evidently display the surface structure of the planet.

Dawn Spacecraft: All Set to Reach Ceres in Mars On 2k15

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Dawn Spacecraft on Ceres

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft came out all safe and sound from the opposite side of the sun. The spacecraft is near to reach the dwarf planet, Ceres which is its next destination.

Presently, the spacecraft is around 400,000 miles far away from Ceres. It is considered as the biggest object present on the asteroid belt. It lies between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter. The Dawn spacecraft would be the first one to send images of Ceres to the Earth.

Christopher Russell, the chief investigator of Dawn mission states that the spacecraft is all set to resolve the mystery of Ceres. Thus far, no meteorites unveiled any significant information regarding its secrets. Hence, the scientists are eagerly looking forward towards the event.

Ceres is an extremely essential object to understand the formation of planetary bodies.  NASA and JPL utilized ion technology for this lengthy mission.  Dawn moves towards its destination with the help of electrically charged particles.

The Dawn spacecraft was launched in the month of September of 2007. The chief objectives of the spacecraft are to examine the Vesta and Cesta. Both of them are one of the huge objects located on the asteroid belt. Since then, the spacecraft accomplished several minor missions such as distant space exploration.

NASA was not wrong when it claimed that 2014 would be a remarkable year in the arena of science. The government space agency tried its best to make it the most memorable year.

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