Once New Horizons
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Once New Horizons New Horizons
A powerful Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 rocket is scheduled to send a spacecraft called New Horizons on a journey to the dim outer reaches of the Sun's realm for the first close-up look at Pluto. Once New Horizons completes its studies of the Pluto system, it will be redirected toward one or two other Kuiper Belt objects that will be selected later. As the mission will operate too far out to use solar power, New Horizons will draw its power from a plutonium-fueled thermo-electric generator that produces 200 watts of electricity.  On Tuesday, a powerful Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 rocket is scheduled to send a spacecraft called New Horizons on a journey to the dim outer reaches of the Sun's realm for the first close-up look at Pluto. Pluto, discovered in 1930 by the astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, turns out to be the first known example of a new class of planetary bodies called ice dwarfs, Dr. Stern said New Horizons will rewrite all of the textbooks regarding the mysteries surrounding Pluto. Pluto-like objects are more typical in our solar system than the nearby planets. Once New Horizons completes its studies of the Pluto system, it will be redirected toward one or two other Kuiper Belt objects that will be selected later.