And the journey continues . NASA ’s New Horizons space vehicle has just wake up from a deep slumber , as it heads towards the most aloof tryst in the Solar System ever attempted .
The space vehicle was commanded to come out of hibernation today , June 5 , as it heads towards its next objective . The spacecraft famouslyflew past Plutoin July 2015 , returning our first ever aspect of the midget major planet , and is now on its way to a upstage aim calledMU69 , nicknamedUltima Thule .
“ We ’re back to fly the ballistic capsule , ” Alan Stern , the principal investigator on the charge , tell IFLScience . “ The squad is work every twenty-four hours from here out to make the flyby successful . ”
Ultima Thule revolve the Sun about 1.5 billion kilometer ( 1 billion mile ) further than Pluto , at a distance of 6.5 billion kilometers ( 4 billion mile ) from Earth . New Horizons is schedule to fly past the object on January 1 , 2019 , at a distance of just3,500 kilometers(2,200 miles ) from its surface .
This object , which may really be adouble object , is conceive to be a remainder of the former Solar System . It valuate only about30 kilometers(20 miles ) across , compare to Pluto ’s width of 2,380 klick ( 1,480 miles ) . It take about 295 years to revolve the Sun , and seems to be slightly blood-red .
Other than that , we do n’t know much about it . But after visiting Pluto , the New Horizons team realize a wild chance to search an object like this in the kayoed Solar System . After wait for a aim , MU69 was choose as the next destination in August 2015 .
As it ’s so far forth , though , New Horizons has been in hibernation formost of its journeythere . Now that we ’re just six months from the flyby , New Horizons will be kept alive to prepare it for the authoritative event .
In August , it will begin takingobservational imagesof the objective from afar to verify it ’s on the right rails . In September , the squad will look for any debris around the object that could complicate the flyby . And from October onwards , the calibre of images will transcend those potential by Hubble , which are little more than a acid .
We ’ll finally know what build Ultima Thule is after Christmas Day this year . And then at 12.33am EST on January 1 , 2019 , just after the eastern US hoop in the New Year , New Horizons will make its closest approach . The images from this should show aim as pocket-sized as a house .
It is going to be improbably exciting . And now New Horizons has woken up as planned , it ’s all systems go for one of the most daring commission ever attempted .
