Voyage to Pluto

An artist's rendition of the New Horizons probe as it passes Jupiter.
Image: JHU/APL/SwRI

NASA's New Horizons probe is approaching Jupiter, and the gas giant's gravity will slingshot the voyager toward remote Pluto by 2015. The probe will make its closest pass of Jupiter on Feb. 28, from which the planet will accelerate the probe to 52,000 miles per hour. Researchers are considering the flyby a test of the probe's data collection capabilities. Scientists plan future data will provide a map of Pluto and Charon in 2015. From Pluto, New Horizons will live up to its name, passing into the distant Kuiper Belt region, the farthest and oldest region of the Solar System.

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