Pluto Explorer New Horizons Now Has New Target Billion Miles Away

Pluto explorer New Horizons has found a new target for exploration. An official word is awaited if the spacecraft can venture out a billion miles further into the solar system to explore the MU 69, a frozen Kuiper Belt Object or KBO.

New Horizon's Pluto flyby this year was historic in many ways as it revealed many unknowns about the dwarf planet. According to CNET, the spacecraft's next probable mission MU 69 is only 30 miles across and is said to be a well-preserved sample of what the outer solar system was like 4.6 billion years ago. Before the spacecraft can be turned towards MU 69 later this year, the New Horizons team needs a formal approval.

"Even as the New Horizon's spacecraft speeds away from Pluto out into the Kuiper Belt, and the data from the exciting encounter with this new world is being streamed back to Earth, we are looking outward to the next destination for this intrepid explorer. While discussions whether to approve this extended mission will take place in the larger context of the planetary science portfolio, we expect it to be much less expensive than the prime mission while still providing new and exciting science, " said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and chief of the NASA Science Mission Directorate.

MU 69 was selected from two available targets beyond Pluto keeping in view the fuel available with New Horizons. It was only a year ago that Hubble Space Telescope discovered MU 69, along with four other objects in New Horizon's spaceflight path.

If approved, New Horizons could reach MU 69 on January 1, 2019.