New Horizons
Mission overview
New Horizons made the first flyby of Pluto and later of the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth.
Mission data
Identity and engineering data from Wikidata (type-verified match · Q48461) · launch date 2006-01-19 confirmed
| International designator | 2006-001A | Wikidata · catalogued |
| Operator | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Wikidata · catalogued |
| Manufacturer | The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory LLC | Wikidata · catalogued |
Full field-level provenance
- International designator: Wikidata (Wikimedia Foundation) — community-curated structured knowledge base · Wikidata · wdt · P247 · catalogued value · retrieved 2026-07-11
- Operator: Wikidata (Wikimedia Foundation) — community-curated structured knowledge base · Wikidata · wdt · P137 · catalogued value · retrieved 2026-07-11
- Manufacturer: Wikidata (Wikimedia Foundation) — community-curated structured knowledge base · Wikidata · wdt · P176 · catalogued value · retrieved 2026-07-11
Sourced from Wikidata (community-maintained structured data, whose statements link to their own citations where provided); each value carries its Wikidata QID. A field with conflicting Wikidata values is omitted. Launch date is used only to cross-check the catalogue, never to override it. Fields Wikidata did not provide, or where conflicting values exist, are omitted, never invented.
Primary-source verification
Committed mission facts cross-checked against the official NASA primary source — NASA Science — New Horizons.
| Launch date | 2006-01-19 | Confirmed by primary |
Verified by corroboration against the official agency document: a launch date is “Confirmed by primary” only when the page literally states it; a launch mass only when the page states a figure equal to it within catalogue rounding (±0.5%). Source precedence is primary agency > peer-reviewed > official mission page > structured secondary > Wikidata; a primary source outranks Wikidata but no engineering value is transcribed from the page — an uncorroborated value is kept as its original (secondary) source, never re-labelled primary. Checked 2026-07-12.
Derived values
Computed from source-backed inputs via standard formulae — not observations. Every input and constant is traced below.
- Time since launch20.4 yearscalculated
Formula & inputs
Formula: Δt = reference − launch (v1.0.0, impl v1.0.0)
Inputs:
- launchDate = 13167 days (JD-like) · NASA JPL
Limitations: A time-dependent value: it is elapsed time as of the stated reference instant, not a fixed total.; Elapsed time since launch is not the same as time spent operating at the target.
Uncertainty: not propagated (inputs carry no catalogued uncertainty)
Computed as of 2026-06-29.
Outcome & discoveries
Revealed Pluto's nitrogen glaciers and complex geology, then flew past Arrokoth in 2019.
- ★First close-up exploration of Pluto and its moons
- ★First flyby of a cold classical Kuiper Belt object (Arrokoth)
Mission profile
Knowledge connections
- Operated byNASA
- Mission targetPluto
- Part of programNew Frontiers program
- Launched byAtlas V
- Launched fromCape Canaveral Space Force Station
- VisitedPluto
- Tracked byDeep Space Network (DSN)
- Associated withStar Tracker
- Carries instrumentLORRI (Long Range Reconnaissance Imager)
- Carries instrumentAlice (New Horizons UV Spectrometer)
- Associated withSputnik Planitia
- Associated withTenzing Montes
- Associated withNew Horizons Flies Past Pluto
Related missions
| Mission | Type | Agency | Launch | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JunoJupiter | Orbiter | NASA | 2011-08-05 | Active |
| OSIRIS-RExAsteroid Bennu | Sample return | NASA | 2016-09-08 | Completed |
Sources
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- NASA JPLJet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics
Orbital data, ephemerides, and small-body parameters for planets, asteroids, and comets.