optyka: New Horizons

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Launched in 2006, it became the first spacecraft to perform a flyby study and capture high-resolution photographs of Pluto and its moons during its encounter. It was engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), with a team led by Alan Stern. New Horizons is the fifth space probe to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System. On January 19, 2006, New Horizons was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station by an Atlas V rocket directly into an Earth-and-solar escape trajectory with a speed of about…

Evidence: 42 • authority: 92

Plasma wave observations from Juno spacecraft at the Jovian bow shock.. Recent observations of Jupiter's bow shock have provided new insights into the energy dissipation mechanisms associated with bow shocks of outer planets. At greater distances from the Sun, the typically increasing super-Alfvénic nature of the solar wind leads to higher-energy bow shocks with enhanced dissipation requirements. Research on Earth's bow shock suggests that plasma waves (e.g., ion-acoustic waves, waves driven by the electron cyclotron drift instability, electrostatic solitary waves, and whistler mode waves) play a critical role in converting solar wind bulk kinetic energy into thermal energy. However, the la…

Evidence: 40 • authority: 72

Several space probes and the upper stages of their launch vehicles are leaving the Solar System, all of which were launched by NASA. The borders of the Solar System are usually defined by the Heliopause diameter at about 120 astronomical units (AU; one AU is roughly the average distance between Earth and the Sun: 150 million kilometers (93 million miles)). Three of the probes, Voyager 1, Voyager 2, and New Horizons, are still functioning and are regularly contacted by radio communication, while Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 are now derelict. In addition to these spacecraft, some upper stages and de-spin weights are leaving the Solar System, assuming they continue on their trajectories. These ob…

Evidence: 40 • authority: 72

An interstellar probe is a space probe that has left—or is expected to leave—the Solar System and enter interstellar space, which is typically defined as the region beyond the heliopause. It also refers to probes capable of reaching other star systems. As of 2024, there are five interstellar probes, all launched by the American space agency NASA: Voyager 1, Voyager 2, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11 and New Horizons. Also as of 2025, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are the only probes to have actually reached interstellar space. The other three are on interstellar trajectories. Contact to Pioneer 10 and 11 was lost long before they reached interstellar space. The termination shock is the point in the helios…

Evidence: 24 • authority: 80

New Horizons Spacecraft Reaches Pluto: July 14 and November 9, 2015

Evidence: 24 • authority: 80

New horizons spacecraft comprehensive performance test development

Evidence: 24 • authority: 80

New Horizons spacecraft nears hazardous environs of Pluto

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Parker Solar Probe (PSP; previously Solar Probe, Solar Probe Plus or Solar Probe+) is a NASA space probe launched in 2018 to make observations of the Sun's outer corona. It used repeated gravity assists from Venus to develop an eccentric orbit, approaching within 9.86 solar radii (6.9 million km or 4.3 million miles) from the center of the Sun. At its closest approach in 2024, its speed relative to the Sun was 690,000 km/h (430,000 mph) or 191 km/s (118.7 mi/s), which is 0.064% the speed of light. It is the fastest object ever built on Earth. The project was announced in the 2009 budget year. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory designed and built the spacecraft, which wa…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

In astrodynamics and aerospace, a delta-v budget is an estimate of the total change in velocity (delta-v) required for a space mission. It is calculated as the sum of the delta-v required to perform each propulsive maneuver needed during the mission. As input to the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation, it determines how much propellant is required for a vehicle of given empty mass and propulsion system. Delta-v is a scalar quantity dependent only on the desired trajectory and not on the mass of the space vehicle. For example, although more fuel is needed to transfer a heavier communication satellite from low Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit than for a lighter one, the delta-v required is the sam…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Interplanetary spaceflight or interplanetary travel is spaceflight (crewed or uncrewed) between planets within a single planetary system. Spaceflights become interplanetary by accelerating spacecraft beyond orbital speed, reaching escape velocity relative to Earth at 11.2 km/s, entering heliocentric orbit, possibly accelerating further, often by performing gravity assist flybys at Earth and other planets. Most of today's spaceflight remains Earth bound, with much less being interplanetary, all of which performed by uncrewed spacecraft, and only just a few spaceflights having accelerated beyond, to system escape velocity, eventually performing interstellar spaceflight. Uncrewed space probes…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Huygens ( HOY-gənz) was an atmospheric entry robotic space probe that landed successfully on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005. Built and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), and launched by NASA, it was part of the Cassini–Huygens mission and became the first spacecraft to land on Titan and the farthest landing from Earth a spacecraft has ever made. The probe was named after the 17th-century Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, who discovered Titan in 1655. The combined Cassini–Huygens spacecraft was launched from Earth on 15 October 1997. Huygens separated from the Cassini orbiter on 25 December 2004, and landed on Titan on 14 January 2005 near the Adiri region. Huygens's landing is so…

Evidence: — • authority: 80

Parker Solar Probe on mission to enter Sun’s atmosphere