New Horizons

New Horizons (New Frontiers 1 or NF1) is a space probe launched in January 2006 to explore Pluto and (other) Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs). It is NASA's first New Frontiers mission. It flew by Pluto in July 2014 and the very distant trans-Neptune object, 486958 Arrokoth (then known as Ultima Thule, and by its provisional designation 2014 MU₆₉) on January 2019. The mission continues, making additional observations of KBOs, some close observations and some distant. It is traveling above the escape velocity of the solar system, and as of 5/2025, is 61.7 AU from the Sun. Its instrument/communications power should last into the 2030s, and there is a hope that will be able to report on conditions at 100 AU where it will be in 2038. Instruments:

• LORRI - long-range reconnaissance imager.
• SWAP - solar wind at Pluto.
• PEPSSI - Pluto energetic particle spectrometer science investigation.
• Alice - ultraviolet imaging spectrometer.
• Ralph - 6-cm telescope.
• VBSDC - Venetia Burney student dust counter.
• REX - radio science experiment.