Science Focus
original post »Yesterday, NASA announced that its New Horizons probe, destined for a 2015 rendezvous with the dwarf planet Pluto, had successfully emerged from hibernation. This puts everything in place for the spacecraft to start the first up-close observations of Pluto on January 15, 2015—only four days short of the nine-year anniversary of its launch.
Unlike the Rosetta mission, which went into a single long, deep hibernation, multiple periods of hibernation were planned for New Horizons. During its nine-year trip to Pluto, the probe went into 18 different hibernation periods. It wasn't completely shut down during these periods, either; its flight computer was actively monitoring it and broadcast a weekly status message. Its wake-up periods were also used to check out the hardware that had been put to sleep.
But this rest period is over, and everything on board will be getting a full check-up before observations begin next month. By May, New Horizons' cameras will be able to image Pluto and its moons with a higher resolution than the Hubble telescope can provide. The probe will fly through the system with a closest approach scheduled for July 14, 2015.
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