Crunch time for Planet Pluto 20. June 2006

Pluto probe launches from Florida 19. January 2006
Pluto mission ready for lift-off 16. January 2006 A mission to an unexplored planet is being launched for the first time since the Voyager craft left for Jupiter and Saturn in the 1970s. ... to reach Pluto in July 2015 (Jupiter slingshot manoeuvre, March 2007, to achieve speeds of about 25km/s) or 20018. ... We've never got a good view of what it looks like, even with the best telescopes - even with Hubble. It just looks like a fuzzy blob. ... For onboard electric power, the probe will convert heat from the decay of radioactive plutonium pellets into electricity for the spacecraft's systems and science instruments. Operating so far from the Sun means New Horizons cannot use solar panels. ... At the closest point, New Horizons will be 10,000km (6,200 miles) from Pluto and about 27,000km (16,800 miles) from Charon.
• Mission guide: New Horizons 17. January 2006

Hubble reveals new map of Pluto 12. September 2005

Pluto's moons:
• Pluto moon 'has no atmosphere' 7. January 2006
• Two new moons found around Pluto 1. November 2005

Date and location

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