New Horizons
The fastest spacecraft ever launched and the third human-made object heading for interstellar space.
Key Facts
- Launch: January 19, 2006
- Pluto flyby: July 14, 2015 (first close-up images of Pluto)
- Arrokoth flyby: January 1, 2019 (most distant object ever visited)
- Current distance: ~60 AU
- Speed: 14.0 km/s (slower than Voyagers due to different trajectory)
- Will cross heliopause: ~2040s (estimated)
- Power: RTG, sufficient until ~2040
Contribution to Interstellar Science
- Mapping the heliosphere’s outer boundary from a different trajectory than Voyagers
- Measuring dust and plasma environment in the Kuiper Belt
- Will eventually provide a third data point for interstellar medium properties