NASA: New Horizons to Target Small Kuiper Belt Object

A NASA announcement of its next mission, through New Horizons, is that of a small Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) in the outer solar system.

"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, chief of NASA's Science Mission directorate, according to the official news release on NASA's website.

This particular KBO has been selected due to its accessibility as well as the fuel supply of the space probe.

Currently, it is called 2014 MU69. The estimate is pegged to be 30 miles, with 0.5 to one percent of the size of Pluto being the target.

Excitingly, while Pluto is about three billion miles from the sun, the new 2014 MU69 is about another billion miles beyond Pluto.

However, the factor in this is that the team gets permission and funds for the "Potential Target 1" mission.

"2014 MU69 is a great choice because it is just the kind of ancient KBO, formed where it orbits now, that the Decadal Survey desired us to fly by. Moreover, this KBO costs less fuel to reach, leaving more fuel for the flyby, for ancillary science, and greater fuel reserves to protect against the unforeseen," Alan Stern said, according to IGN.

Late October to early November, New Horizons is going to factor four thruster firings to adjust its course, "enabling it to take more distant measurements of 20 other KBOs that it will encounter as it heads to 2014 MU69", according to hngn.

Although they can discover new worlds after they go past the next target, "there are low odds that we would find something within the remaining fuel," Stern said, according to New York Times.