NASA's New Horizons Mission to Inspect Mystery Object in The Kuiper Belt (2014 MU69)
Following the successful mission to perform a flyby study of Pluto, NASA has extended the mission to check 2014 MU69 a.k.a. Kuiper Belt.
NASA has announced a go signal to extend the New Horizons' mission to go beyond the 2014 MU69, also known as Kuiper Belt. The space probe is to inspect never before recognized bodies of the universe and also to engage in exploring a mysterious celestial object that may reveal information as to how our very own system was developed. In 2019, the space probe is expected to have gathered data already.
The voyage of the New Horizons was successful enough to provide new information about the Pluto System. It gathered information from its surfaces to its moons. Hopefully when its objectives evolved, it would surpass the first mission and to proceed on in discovering the Kuiper Belt; and to even look further for answers about the transformation of the Solar System's baby steps.
The New Horizons, after successfully completing the first mission, is now ready to fly by the Kuiper Belt. NASA has approved of the extended mission with full on support to study an icy object that may crucially be essential in unraveling the secrets of our Solar System's early formation.
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The New Horizons will roughly be expected to arrive at 2014 MU69 in January 2019, three years from now.
"We're excited to continue onward into the dark depths of the outer solar system to a science target that wasn't even discovered when the spacecraft launched." according Jim Green, NASA's Director of Planetary Science. This voyage will be considered as the first spacecraft/space probe to swing by to an even zoomed in view of a matter that has been never been touched, nor explored by the likes of mankind.
The object that is to be discovered is somewhat an icy souvenir from a moment of formation that was discovered back in 2014. The existence of this relic found in the Kuiper Belt, was still undiscovered when the New Horizons was launched. The Kuiper Belt, in estimation, is approximately 13 to 25 mile across. It plays an important role in the feat of discovery as it may lead answers and unlock secrets to the early blocks of our Solar System.
The New Horizons is a NASA space probe that is a proud part of the New Frontiers Program. Launched back in the 19th of January 2006, the New Horizons mission was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station towards the Earth and Sun's trajectory. The main mission's objective was to explore larger scales of Discovery missions. The exploration of the New Horizons was to achieve further studies about the only unexplored planet left in our Solar System. When it was launched in 2006, the Pluto system was still considered as a planet and soon to be classified as a dwarf.
