NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is currently seven years into its
nine-and-a-half-year journey across the Solar System to explore
Pluto. Since its launch in 2006, however, astronomers have
discovered two more moons orbiting the dwarf-planet, which now
pose a grave threat to the spacecraft’s initial navigation
course because of space debris orbiting them. “We’ve found more
and more moons orbiting near Pluto – the count is now up to
five,” said Dr Alan Stern, chief scientist on the New Horizons
mission. “And we’ve come to appreciate that those moons, as well
as those not yet discovered, act as debris generators populating
the Pluto system with shards from collisions between those moons
and small Kuiper Belt objects.” Scientists are currently
devising alternative routes which will stir the spacecraft out
of harms way, while at the same time preserving the mission’s
integrity. “We want people to understand just how interesting
and how nail-biting New Horizons’ mission might be,” said Stern.
“This is part of the ex