Pluto – Page 5 – Spaceflight Now

Back in action, New Horizons returns fresh view of Pluto

July 8, 2015 Stephen Clark

The New Horizons spacecraft speeding toward Pluto has returned a new image of the icy world lurking at the solar system’s outer frontier — the first photo beamed back to Earth since the probe suspended science operations Saturday.

New Horizons back in business after weekend scare

July 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

Fully recovered from a computer hiccup that disrupted science observations this weekend, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft will resume imaging of Pluto on Tuesday, a week before the plutonium-powered probe zooms less than 7,800 miles from the unexplored dwarf planet at the frontier of the solar system.

Technical problem pauses Pluto probe’s science operations

July 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA’s New Horizons space probe, 10 days from a one-shot encounter with enigmatic Pluto, stopped collecting science data Saturday after a technical problem interrupted the spacecraft’s tightly-choreographed flight plan.

New Horizons gets ‘all clear’ for Pluto flyby

July 2, 2015 William Harwood

After an exhaustive search for heretofore unseen rings, small moons or other space debris, senior managers have concluded that NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, hurtling toward a July 14 flyby of Pluto at more than 30,000 mph, can safely stay on its current course without undue fears of a mission-ending impact.

Two faces of Pluto revealed in color imagery

July 2, 2015 Stephen Clark

The first well-resolved color photos of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, speeding toward a close-up encounter July 14, show a world blotched with dark features spanning two very different sides of the dwarf planet.

New Horizons two weeks from Pluto flyby

June 30, 2015 William Harwood

NASA’s New Horizons probe, now just 10 million miles from Pluto and 14 days from a historic July 14 flyby, is operating in near flawless fashion, making increasingly detailed observations of the enigmatic dwarf planet and its large moon Charon, project engineers and scientists reported Tuesday.

New Horizons in good shape approaching Pluto

June 23, 2015 William Harwood

Now just three weeks from its historic flyby of Pluto, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is close enough to detect objects smaller and dimmer than the dwarf planet’s smallest known moon and so far, nothing has been spotted that would pose a threat to the probe as it barrels through the system at more than 30,000 mph, scientists said Tuesday.

Hubble shows Pluto’s moons don’t know which end is up

June 3, 2015 William Harwood

As NASA’s New Horizons probe closes in on Pluto, the Hubble Space telescope has been scouting its retinue of five known moons, discovering that at least two are tumbling chaotically in the complex gravity of the dwarf planet and its large moon, Charon, researchers said Wednesday.

Surface markings show up in newest Pluto imagery

April 29, 2015 Stephen Clark

Alan Stern, chief scientist on NASA’s New Horizons mission, said Wednesday he had an emotional “meet Pluto moment” when new imagery from the faraway space probe arrived on Earth showing the mysterious world in more detail than ever before seen by human eyes.

Pluto and Charon seen in color by New Horizons

April 16, 2015 Stephen Clark

Barreling toward a July 14 flyby of Pluto, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has returned its first color image of the distant world and its moon Charon, whetting the appetites of scientists as the probe prepares to begin taking the best-ever photos of the Pluto system beginning next month.