NASA extends the mission of New Horizons into the late 2024s.

The decision was made by the agency to continue operating New Horizons until it leaves the Kuiper Belt, which is anticipated to occur in 2028 or 2029.

 

For at least another five years, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft will be able to continue examining its strange surroundings.

As New Horizons continues to race through the vast ring of frozen things known as the Kuiper Belt, which lies beyond Neptune’s orbit, the agency said on Friday, September 29, that it will keep the spacecraft’s lights on.

Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, said in a statement on Friday that the New Horizons mission “has a unique position in our solar system to answer important questions about our heliosphere and provide extraordinary opportunities for multidisciplinary science for NASA and the scientific community.” The large magnetic field and charged particle bubble that the sun creates around itself is known as the heliosphere. There is interstellar space beyond it.)

According to Fox, “the agency decided that it was best to continue New Horizons operations until the spacecraft exits the Kuiper Belt, which is anticipated in 2028 to 2029.” 

Related: NASA might switch the New Horizons Pluto probe to a mission to study the sun

In order to give the public the first-ever close-up views of Pluto, the most well-known inhabitant of the Kuiper Belt, New Horizons was launched in January 2006. In July 2015, the spacecraft successfully completed its mission, speeding past the dwarf planet and unveiling a world with astounding diversity and beauty.

The probe continued to cruise along during its lengthy mission, which was focused on a flyby of the 21-mile-wide (34 kilometers) Arrokoth, a Kuiper Belt object (KBO). That rendezvous went down without a hitch and produced some fascinating science and beautiful photos. For instance, according to the mission team, findings from New Horizons show that Arrokoth was created by the very gentle merger of two smaller objects.

But this year, the mission’s future grew uncertain. NASA recommended a significant change for New Horizons’ future, moving it from the Planetary Science Division to the Heliophysics Division after its mission was extended through 2024. The chief investigator of New Horizons, Alan Stern, disagreed to this notion, saying that continuing on the current track would allow the probe to continue researching the sparsely studied Kuiper Belt. 

The recently announced mission extension seems to be some type of compromise. It will be handled jointly by Planetary Science and that division, with funding mostly coming from Planetary Science.

New Horizons will start collecting heliophysics data in 2025, but the team is still holding out hope for another KBO encounter.

“While the science community is not currently aware of any reachable Kuiper Belt object, this new path allows for the possibility of using the spacecraft for a future close flyby of such an object, should one be identified,” NASA officials said in the same statement. “It also will enable the spacecraft to preserve fuel and reduce operational complexity while a search is conducted for a compelling flyby candidate.”

Stern appears content that New Horizons will continue to operate for at least another five years. He said via X (formerly known as Twitter) on Sunday, October 1, “I want to thank everyone who supported us in getting #NASA to continue the exploration of the Kuiper Belt by its @NASANewHorizons spacecraft — You did it!”

According to Space News, NASA invested $9.5 million in New Horizons in fiscal year 2024. The organization is still figuring out how to finance the mission for the ensuing five or so years.

Future programs “may be impacted,” NASA officials warned in the same statement. “As a starting point, funding within the New Frontiers program (including science research and data analysis) will be rebalanced to accommodate extended New Horizons operations,” they said. New Horizons was the first New Frontiers project to launch; New Frontiers is NASA’s program for medium-cost missions.

Additional extensions may be conceivable if the necessary funding and motivation are available; according to the mission team, New Horizons has enough nuclear fuel to keep flying until at least 2040.