NASA may select next target New Horizons

NASA has determined the tentative new target of the space explorer New Horizons. It is an object in the Kuiper Belt, 2014 called MU69, which is located 1.6 billion kilometers from Pluto.

The New Horizons team submitted the object to NASA, but a later assessment should officially determine the 2014 MU69 as the next place the space explorer visits. There is also another possible location in the Kuiper Belt, NASA writes in a blog post.

The New Horizons team now has to write a proposal in order to get money for the mission. An independent group of scientists, separate from NASA, will determine next year whether the mission is feasible and then give a ‘go’ if necessary. New Horizons is expected to arrive at 2014 MU69 on January 1, 2019, otherwise known as Potential Target 1.

Until then, NASA will keep the 2014 MU69 as the next object for the time being. It has to be, because the space explorer has to perform four maneuvers at the end of October and the beginning of November to end up in the right place in the universe. Without those moves, an extension of the Pluto mission would in any case not be feasible with the current fuel level.

New Horizons arrived at Pluto last month and has already passed it by. Despite this, images of the distant dwarf planet are still trickling in. Recently, photos showed that Pluto has two distinct layers of fog and probably flowing ice.