Pluto 3D Model. Click and drag to move the model. Scroll up and down to zoom in and out. Source: NASA Visualization Technology Applications and Development (VTAD) Published: April 22, 2019

By Meagan

To start off let’s get more familiar with what the New Horizons Mission is. The New Horizons Mission is the first NASA spacecraft to observe and explore Pluto in depth. The spacecraft has mainly worked on getting up close to Pluto and seeing what there is on the dwarf planet. Not only is the New Horizons Mission important for learning more about Pluto, NASA is also exploring the Kuiper Belt. This mission is very important for us to understand the edge of our solar system. This is the first mission that has explored Pluto and the Kuiper Belt this much.

The New Horizons Spacecraft really started in 2006, but they have now extended the mission and it should end this year, 2020. The first part of the mission took 6 months and what it did was closely fly past Pluto and all of Pluto’s moons. The initial stage in 2015 showed evenly spaced ridges on the surface of Pluto. From this, scientists think that the ridges were formed from particles of methane ice and the winds from nearby mountains. Some of the mountainous ridges surrounding an ice plane make the shape of a heart.

The next stage of the mission is focusing on going even deeper into examining Pluto. The extended part of the mission is getting up close to objects in the Kuiper Belt and observing them. At that point the spacecraft was billions of miles into space.

By being so close to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, scientists will have basic questions about Pluto and the Kuiper belt answered.Thanks to the Hubble Telescope, scientists are able to see more than just one moon, Charon, orbiting around Pluto. The other four moons (Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra) were never seen before this.

Scientists want to see how ice dwarf planets and Kuiper Belt bodies have changed throughout time. If the New Horizons Mission is successful, the United States will be the first to complete the initial renaissance of the whole solar system.

Resources: Pluto's Moons, New Horizons NASA's Mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt,