Perhaps in our life span, we would be able to at least explore most of our solar system. Here is one of the satellite trying to help mankind. New Horizons is a NASA robotic spacecraft mission currently en route to the dwarf planet Pluto. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix, Hydra, S/2011 P 1, and S/2012 P 1, with an estimated arrival date at the Pluto-Charon system of July 14, 2015. NASA may then also attempt flybys of one or more other Kuiper belt objects, if a suitable target can be located.

New Horizons-Journey to the end of our Solar System-Pluto was launched on January 19, 2006, directly into an Earth-and-solar-escape trajectory with an Earth-relative velocity of about 16.26 km/s after its last engine was shut down. Thus, the spacecraft left Earth at the greatest-ever launch speed for a man-made object. It flew by the orbit of Mars on April 7, 2006, the orbit of Jupiter on February 28, 2007, the orbit of Saturn on June 8, 2008; and the orbit of Uranus on March 18, 2011.

New Horizons – Artistic Sketch (via Wikipedia)

Here is a weird thing. When the spacecraft was launched, Pluto was still classified as a planet, later to be reclassified as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Some members of the New Horizons team, including Alan Stern, disagree with the IAU definition and still describe Pluto as the ninth planet. Pluto’s satellites Nix and Hydra also have a connection with the spacecraft: the first letters of their names, N and H, are the initials of “New Horizons”. The moons’ discoverers chose these names for this reason, in addition to Nix and Hydra’s relationship to the mythological Pluto.

To commemorate the discovery of Pluto, one ounce of the ashes of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh are aboard the spacecraft, while one of the science packages (a dust counter) is named after Venetia Burney, who, as a child, suggested the name Pluto after its discovery.

The best image till date we have of Pluto is from Hubble Telescope and this will be even better when it reaches closer. Personally, I am too excited and waiting for 2015.

Key mission dates (via Wikipedia)

Many people think it is a wastage of money, investing money on space research they say – “It has no profit to Mankind”. And there is a cheap section who say – “Money can be used to food poor”. Well, it give jobs to jobless people and feeds them and most important it will pay off with an important discovery like – Cure of Cancer, Helium 3, End of power problem. There are endless capabilities of the universe which human being does not know. Quest of Knowledge must not be weighed by the money.

On India’s Mars mission, ISRO is working to meet the November 2013 launch target. India may well join for space quest if they could get more funding from the government. ISRO’s budget is only 0.34% of Central government expenditure !
Seems, NASA will continue to be the pioneer in Space Exploration in coming times.

NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is the most distant human-made object in the universe.

Its twin, Voyager 2, has traveled to more planets than any other in history.

The spacecraft twins, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, were launched by NASA during the summer of 1977 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Barring any fatal equipment failures, the Voyager twins are likely to survive and relay data from beyond the outer planets for many decades into the 21st century.

Today, in a dark, cold, vacant neighborhood at the very edge of our Solar System, NASA’s Voyager 1 deep space probe holds the record as the Earth explorer that has traveled farthest from home.

June 28, 2010 – Voyager 2

NASA’s plucky Voyager 2 spacecraft has hit a long-haul operations milestone today (June 28) — operating continuously for 12,000 days. For nearly 33 years, the venerable spacecraft has been returning data about the giant outer planets, and the characteristics and interaction of solar wind between and beyond the planets. Among its many findings, Voyager 2 discovered Neptune’s Great Dark Spot and its 450-meter-per-second (1,000-mph) winds.

The two Voyager spacecraft have been the longest continuously operating spacecraft in deep space. Voyager 2 launched on August 20, 1977, when Jimmy Carter was president. Voyager 1 launched about two weeks later on Sept. 5. The two spacecraft are the most distant human-made objects, out at the edge of the heliosphere — the bubble the sun creates around the solar system. Mission managers expect Voyager 1 to leave our solar system and enter interstellar space in the next five years or so, with Voyager 2 on track to enter interstellar space shortly after that.

Having traveled more than 21 billion kilometers (13 billion miles) on its winding path through the planets toward interstellar space, the spacecraft is now nearly 14 billion kilometers (9 billion miles) from the sun. A signal from the ground, traveling at the speed of light, takes about 12.8 hours one-way to reach Voyager 2.

Voyager 1 reached this 12,000-day milestone on July 13, 2010 after traveling more than 22 billion kilometers (14 billion miles). Voyager 1 is currently more than 17 billion kilometers (11 billion miles) from the sun.

The Voyagers were built by JPL, which continues to operate both spacecraft. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

Summary of the satellites crossed Solar System:

Current status
The current status of Voyager 1 (as well as Voyager 2, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11 and New Horizons) is available online at Spacecraft Escaping the Solar System.

As of July 27, 2010 , Voyager 1 was about 113.478 AU (16.976 billion km, or 10.549 billion miles) or 0.002 of a light-year from the Sun. Voyager 1′s current relative velocity is 17.07 km/s, or 61,452 kilometres per hour (38,185 mph). This calculates as 3.6 AU per year, about 10% faster than Voyager 2.

NASA extrapolated the location and heliocentric coordinates of both Voyager space probes up to 2015.On November 19, 2015, Voyager 1 will be approximately 133.15 Astronomical Units from the Sun.

As of August 2010, Voyager 2 is 93 AU from the Sun, at −55.32° declination and 19.785 h right ascension, placing it in the constellation Telescopium as observed from Earth.