Nine years after the Atlas V rocket carrying the New Horizons into space at a speed of 16.2 kilometers per second, a vehicle for the United States Space Agency nirawak July next year it will reach its target, the dwarf planet Pluto.
In July 2015, dozens of questions that accompany Pluto since its discovery by French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier, more than 80 years ago, will be missed.
Expect much in the world of science missions, which cost 700 million Euro's. New Horizons will not only uncover the mystery surrounding Pluto. The spacecraft will orbit the moon Charon also, which is half the size of its parent planet. New Horizons will approach at a distance of 27,000 kilometers Charon.
New Task for New Horizons
Now scientists are beginning to initiate a new debate about the New Horizons mission after Pluto. In general, the world of science agreed, the spacecraft will investigate the Kuiper belt, to answer the last question about the process of the formation of the solar system.
"Visiting the Kuiper belt is an opportunity that only occurs once in a lifetime. In fact, even more frequently than that," said New Horizons science team member, Cathy Olkin as reported German weekly, Spiegel.
zum Thema - New Horizons - Kuipergürtel - NASA
Illustration of the Kuiper belt
But his case is the Kuiper belt region with the sky almost infinitely wide and accommodates more than 70,000 celestial objects. So far scientists have not been able to agree on what object will be investigated. Time his case continues to shrink. To prepare for the maneuver into the Kuiper belt, scientists require thorough preparation that could take a year or more.
Formation of the Solar System
The Kuiper Belt is a ring of asteroids in the outer solar system. Region of the sky that holds 'junk' unused space during the process of planet formation. Dozens of avid comet visited the innermost circle of the solar system, is believed to originate from the Kuiper belt.
Because of that region of the sky Scientists aim to uncover how the solar system and the planets formed. "So far there are no plans for a new mission in the Kuiper belt," said Cathy Olkin. "I hope we did not miss this opportunity."
NASA chose the most appropriate time for visited Pluto. The planet orbits the elipse shaped currently located at the closest distance to the sun, which is about 29 Astronomical Units, or 29 times the distance of the earth and the sun.
His case, the distance between Pluto and the Kuiper belt was almost similar to the distance to the sun. This means that New Horizons will take nearly a decade to visited the Kuiper belt within 55 Astronomical Units from the sun.
Therefore NASA since three years ago has been deployed in Earth observation devices such as Keck, Subaru and Gemini to sort objects in the Kuiper belt that is most appropriate for the study. Because if NASA scientists failed to mix a new mission, New Horizons will fly aimlessly outside the solar system, such as the Voyager 1 and 2.
But his case is the Kuiper belt region with the sky almost infinitely wide and accommodates more than 70,000 celestial objects. So far scientists have not been able to agree on what object will be investigated. Time his case continues to shrink. To prepare for the maneuver into the Kuiper belt, scientists require thorough preparation that could take a year or more.
Formation of the Solar System
The Kuiper Belt is a ring of asteroids in the outer solar system. Region of the sky that holds 'junk' unused space during the process of planet formation. Dozens of avid comet visited the innermost circle of the solar system, is believed to originate from the Kuiper belt.
Because of that region of the sky Scientists aim to uncover how the solar system and the planets formed. "So far there are no plans for a new mission in the Kuiper belt," said Cathy Olkin. "I hope we did not miss this opportunity."
NASA chose the most appropriate time for visited Pluto. The planet orbits the elipse shaped currently located at the closest distance to the sun, which is about 29 Astronomical Units, or 29 times the distance of the earth and the sun.
His case, the distance between Pluto and the Kuiper belt was almost similar to the distance to the sun. This means that New Horizons will take nearly a decade to visited the Kuiper belt within 55 Astronomical Units from the sun.
Therefore NASA since three years ago has been deployed in Earth observation devices such as Keck, Subaru and Gemini to sort objects in the Kuiper belt that is most appropriate for the study. Because if NASA scientists failed to mix a new mission, New Horizons will fly aimlessly outside the solar system, such as the Voyager 1 and 2.
