KUSA - The New Horizons spacecraft will make history at 10 p.m. on Monday.
That’s when the spacecraft will fly by a small planet called Ultima Thule in the outermost regions of the solar system. It will be the most distant flyby ever attempted.
The mission started in 2006, when New Horizons blasted off on a journey to explore Pluto.
For years, scientists received data about Pluto and its moons. Now, they hope to get the same sort of information about this tiny little planet in the Kuiper Belt some four billion miles away.
Dr. Alan Stern of Boulder has been one of the lead scientists on the project since the beginning of the mission. He said the flyby isn’t just historic, it’s also very difficult.
For instance, every time his team sends New Horizon a command, it takes 12 hours to hear back because the spacecraft is so far away.
Also, the mission involves finding a tiny little planet from billions of miles away in the dark with a vehicle traveling 32,000 miles per hour.
But, once it starts sending back information, the scientists hope to learn more about how the solar system was formed.
Stern said the Ultima Thule is like a time capsule that’s full of information just waiting to be collected and analyzed over the next 16 months.
Stern isn’t the only Colorado connection involved with the New Horizon.
The University of Colorado and Ball Aerospace built some of the instruments on board, and Lockheed Martin built the launch vehicle.
The whole team that’s been running the show, meanwhile, includes scientists and support personnel from Colorado.
If you’d like more information, or want to watch the flyby tonight, check out: https://bit.ly/2rZeAfy