Nine years and 3 billion miles after it was launched into space, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has awoken from hibernation and is preparing to travel to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.
The New Horizons spacecraft, which weighs about half a ton, is about the size and shape of a baby grand piano.
According to NASA’s New Horizons website, the spacecraft has gone into hibernation 18 times, Ars Technica reported, for a total of 1,873 days, since its launch in January 2006 in order to minimize wear on its components and reduce the risk of system failures.
It is expected to make its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015. It will then explore the Kuiper Belt from 2016 to 2020.
The mission’s objectives include mapping the surface composition and temperatures of Pluto and Kuiper Belt objects, as well as their geology and morphology.
New Horizons is expected to be 100 astronomical units away from the Sun by 2038 and will be able to send data about the outer heliosphere if it is still operational by then, CNET reported.
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