NASA ‘wakes up’ New Horizons explorer for trip to Pluto

NASA successfully reactivated space explorer New Horizons. The satellite will come close to the mini-planet Pluto, which is expected to reach in just over 200 days. New Horizons was launched almost nine years ago.

According to the space agency, operators at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University have successfully received commands indicating that the New Horizons space explorer has woken up from sleep mode. The signal took about 4.5 hours to travel: the satellite is now more than 4.6 billion kilometers from Earth. The ultimate goal of New Horizons is to study Pluto and its moons.

NASA’s space explorer should arrive at Pluto in July next year, if all goes well. On July 14, New Horizons would be closest to the mini-planet, meaning the best photos should be taken on that day. However, observing the dwarf planet and its moons will begin as early as January 15. In the coming weeks, the research team on Earth will check whether all parts of the New Horizons are functioning properly.

The New Horizons space explorer was launched in January 2006, meaning it has been underway for nearly nine years now. In about two-thirds of that time, the systems were in sleep mode to prevent wear and tear and system failures.