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[GK86]

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As 2016 ends, I can’t help but point out an interesting symmetry in where the mission has recently been and where we are going. Exactly two years ago we had just taken New Horizons out of cruise hibernation to begin preparations for the Pluto flyby. And exactly two years from now we will be on final approach to our next flyby, which will culminate with a very close approach to a small Kuiper Belt object (KBO) called 2014 MU69 – a billion miles farther out than Pluto – on Jan. 1, 2019. Just now, as 2016 ends, we are at the halfway point between those two milestones.

During this phase between flyby operations, all of the systems and scientific instruments aboard New Horizons are healthy. In October, we completed the 16-month-long transmission of all Pluto flyby data to Earth. Our science team is now steadily analyzing those data, making new discoveries and writing reports to research journals like Science, Nature, Icarus, the Journal of Geophysical Research and the Astronomical Journal. Almost 50 scientific papers reporting new results about Pluto and its system of moons were submitted this year!

While New Horizons “sleeps” through much of 2017, our spacecraft, mission operations, and science teams will be designing, writing and testing the spacecraft command sequences for the 2014 MU69 flyby. For Pluto that job took most of 2009 to 2013. But because the MU69 flyby is barely two years away, we have to compress all the planning into the next 18 months. Why? Because flyby operations for 2014 MU69 will begin in July 2018.

When New Horizons reaches 2014 MU69 just under two years and two weeks from now, we’ll be setting another record – for exploring the farthest world ever explored, over 4 billion miles from Earth! Since there no planned mission after New Horizons to explore worlds in the Kuiper Belt, it’s anyone’s bet how long it will be before our record is eclipsed.

 

[The Sum of Zero]

I'm ashamed to admit I forgot about this upcoming KBO flyby.

It'll be a long wait but I'm sure it'll be worth it.

 

[SwiftDeath]

That picture would make a pretty dope poster

 

[RCSI]

A sequel to the that popular fly-by movie, yes!