Derelict Booster to Beat Pluto Probe to Jupiter

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Reaching for Pluto: NASA Launches Probe to Solar System's Edge
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft launches into space on a mission to the planet Pluto and beyond on Jan. 19, 2006. (Image credit: NASA.)

NASA'sPluto-bound NewHorizons spacecraft now speeding through the Solar System is set to reachJupiter on Feb. 28, 2007, but it will not be the first craft of its mission toreach the gas giant, mission officials said this week.

Launchedon Jan. 19, New Horizons is set to swing past Jupiter and use the planet'sgravity to boost it toward Pluto. But a Boeing-built rocket booster - the thirdstage that launched New Horizons on its way - will get there first, said Alan Stern,the mission's principal investigator, in an update this week.

Twonavigation burns set for Jan. 28 and Jan. 30 to refine New Horizons' flightpath will slow the craft enough to allow the Star-48 engine to overtake it,Stern said, adding that the engine will not reach Pluto before NASA's probe.

"It'llfling off in the general direction of Pluto, but will miss by 200 millionkilometers because it missed the precise aim point at Jupiter," Stern told SPACE.com.

On Jan. 29,New Horizons will pass out of Earth's orbit on its mission to one of our SolarSystem's most distant planets. The spacecraft launched away from Earth at about36,250 miles per hour (58,338 kilometers per hour) and should pass the orbit ofMars on April 8, mission managers said.

NewHorizons carries sevenprimary instruments to map Pluto and its moonsystem, as well as study the planet's composition and atmosphere. The probeis also designed to push past Pluto and explore at least one of themore-distant, icy KuiperBelt objects should its mission be extended.

Thespacecraft is expected to reach Pluto for its flyby on July 14, 2015. TheStar-48 rocket engine will reach Pluto's orbit, but not the planet itself, onOct. 15, 2015.

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.