2016-05-20 Fri

The New Horizon Mission is one of the most significant milestones in the field of astronomical science undertaken by NASA, pushing the boundaries solar-system discoveries to the next level. With a sole intent to discover and learn more about the smallest planet Pluto, the mission now eyes at going further and venturing into the mysterious Kuiper Belt.

The satellite was launched in 19th January 2006 and was used for closely studying Pluto and its moons in the summer of 2007. On July 14th 2015, the spacecraft was closest to the planet and now is headed farther into the Kuiper Belt. Studies reveal that this celestial area is a billion-mile belt and the spacecraft has immensely aided the understanding of the surface properties, geology, interior makeup and atmospheres of the icy-bodies that exist in this belt.

Unlike other planets, Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, are known as "ice dwarfs” and have solid surfaces with most of their mass made of icy material. Four new moons of Pluto, Nix, Hydra, Styx and Kerberos were discovered by New Horizons.

The Postal Service of USA released a preview of 2016 stamps last December. The stamps depict an image of Pluto and the New Horizons spacecraft, eight new colorful Forever stamps of NASA images of solar system planets and a Global Forever stamp dedicated to Earth’s moon.