In July of 2015 a robotic spacecraft reached Pluto after a nine-and-half-year journey. New Horizons is the first spacecraft mission to Pluto and revealed its five moons as never before seen. Images from the mission show a reddish surface covered in ice-water mountains, moving glaciers, and hints of possible ice volcanoes and an underground ocean. Pluto is geologically alive and changing! This addition to the Scientists in the Field series goes where no person or spacecraft has ever gone before. Follow along with the team of scientists as they build New Horizons, fly it across the solar system, and make new discoveries about a world three billion miles away.
Content Note
A long-awaited encounter -- Mission brief: The journey to Pluto -- Plutonian dreams -- Mission brief: Pluto primer -- Built to go the distance -- Mission brief: The spacecraft -- Sprinting across the solar system -- Mission brief: Mini-moons -- Up close and personal -- Mission brief: Pluto encounter -- Meet the neighbors -- Mission brief: The Kuiper Belt.