New Horizons encounters 2014 MU69, illustration. In 2015, the NASA probe New Horizons arrived at Pluto after a decade-long flight. In August 2015, sci

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New Horizons encounters 2014 MU69, illustration. In 2015, the NASA probe New Horizons arrived at Pluto after a decade-long flight. In August 2015, scientists chose the Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 as the next flyby target. After four course corrections, the probe is due to arrive on 1 January 2019. It will be the first ever encounter of a robotic probe with a classical Kuiper Belt Object. The object 2014 MU69 is far smaller than Pluto, and may actually be a binary (two objects orbiting each other). This irregularly shaped object orbits the Sun once every 295 years. Image published in 2018.

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Size: 4195px × 2098px
Photo credit: © NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Steve Gribben/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, 2014, 2018, 2019, 21st, artwork, belt, binary, century, engineering, exploration, exploring, flight, fly, flyby, horizons, illustration, kbo, kuiper, mission, mu69, nasa, object, outer, probe, robotic, solar, space, spacecraft, spaceflight, system, technological, technology