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Tweny years ago, the New Horizons spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral. Eight and a half years later, the whole world was talking about it when it transmitted the first-ever close-up images of Pluto’s surface back to Earth. However, its adventures actually began much earlier.

New Horizons spacecraft.

Source: www.space.com

Who is interested in Pluto?

January 19 marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Atlas 5 rocket from the US Space Force base, which carried the New Horizons spacecraft beyond Earth’s gravitational sphere. Nowadays, it is mainly talked about in connection with the discoveries it made during its brief flyby of Pluto.

However, in reality, the interesting adventures of the probe designed to explore Pluto began long before the summer of 2015 and even long before its launch, although these adventures were a little unusual.

First, it should be noted that the first spacecraft could have reached Pluto several decades earlier. Voyager 1 could well have been that spacecraft. At least in the 1970s, during the mission planning stage, there was an idea to perform a gravitational maneuver during the flyby of Saturn, which would allow the probe to be directed towards the object that was then considered the ninth planet of the Solar System in a few years.

Voyager-1 could have been the first spacecraft to fly by Pluto.

Source: www.planetary.org

However, at that time, Pluto was considered too distant and uninteresting, so preference was given to a trajectory that allowed for better exploration of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. However, over the next 15 years, everything changed dramatically. In 1978, Pluto’s moon Charon was discovered, unusually large and close to the planet, and in 1985, its atmosphere was discovered. All this was already worth launching a spacecraft to what seemed at the time to be the most distant body in the Solar System.

In 1989-90, NASA established a working group that developed a project called Pluto 350. It was supposed to be a truly epic mission, designed to last 15 years. Initially, the spacecraft was to head for Venus and Mercury to gain speed, then perform another gravitational maneuver near Jupiter, and only then head for Pluto.

Such a cunning plan was necessary because the speed that can be achieved by the spacecraft during launch is quite limited, and the entire time it flies to Pluto, the Sun’s gravitational pull will slow it down. It will reach its destination, but it will take several decades.

of Trajectorythe New Horizons spacecraft

That is why, without an intermediate point in the form of Jupiter, which, with the right calculations, can be turned into acceleration, it is impossible to do without. But 15 years was still too long, so NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed another plan called Pluto Fast Flyby. It involved flying two small spacecraft for a total of seven years and performing a gravitational maneuver near Jupiter. In fact, this plan was later implemented during the New Horizons mission.

Is the flight to Pluto justified?

However, at that very moment, in 1993, after the loss of Mars Observer, the number of people willing to pay $1 billion – the estimated cost of the mission to Pluto at the time – dropped sharply. Instead, scientists’ interest only grew. The fact is that in 1987, the planet passed its equinox, and in 1989, it passed its perihelion, i.e., the point in its orbit closest to the Sun.

In addition, Pluto’s orbit is not only highly elongated but also significantly inclined to the ecliptic. This means that the most favorable moment for launching a spacecraft from Earth was in the second half of the 1980s. This crazy celestial body completes a full revolution around the Sun in 247 years.

Pluto’s orbit.

Source: astrobites.org

This means that with each passing year, the spacecraft’s flight path would become longer and higher above the plane in which the rest of the planets in the Solar System revolve. This would mean higher costs and less equipment that could be delivered to the target.

In an attempt to save the mission, a desperate option was proposed: it would be launched by a Russian rocket, and Germany would provide funding in exchange for the opportunity to place its own sub-probe on board. The plan was to drop it onto one of Jupiter’s moons as the spacecraft flew through the gas giant’s system.

So, in discussions about the flight to Pluto, the topic arose that on its way there, the spacecraft should not only “sleep” but also explore something interesting as it flew past. But the plan did not work out, and in the mid-1990s, the project was abandoned.

Pluto Kuiper Express.

Source: Wikipedia

But not for long, because at that very moment, more and more new objects began to be discovered beyond Neptune’s orbit. The flight plan to Pluto was taken out of the drawer again and supplemented with a section in which, after exploring the planet, the probe was to fly further and take a closer look at one of the newly discovered asteroids.

The mission was renamed Pluto Kuiper Express, and only one of the two previously planned spacecraft remained, but this did not help the project. In 1999, it was rejected again. But this time, the public was on the side of the scientists, and soon NASA had to announce a new competition, which the New Horizons won: the Shedding Light on Frontier Worlds project from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. It was this project that was implemented.

New Horizons design

Ready for launch, the spacecraft weighed 478 kg, of which 77 kg was fuel, and was about the size of a small car. It was propelled by four main rocket engines and 12 orientation engines. All of them ran on hydrazine as a single fuel.

The payload consisted of a whole set of scientific instruments. The Alice camera provided observation of objects and spectroscopy in the ultraviolet range, Ralph performed similar studies in the infrared part of the spectrum, and the main LORRI telescope was responsible for the visible range.

NewHorizons collection.

Source: Wikipedia

Also on board were the SWAP solar wind analyzer and PEPSSI. These two instruments captured all the high-energy particles that New Horizons encountered during its flight. They were designed to answer the question of how strongly solar radiation affects objects at such a distance from the sun.

The VBSDC device was responsible for studying much larger particles that the spacecraft might encounter. Also on board was the REX radio spectrometer, designed to study Pluto’s atmosphere by measuring the signal from Earth as it passed through it.

All of this was controlled by the onboard computer. Signals were sent to it from Earth via a communication system. Inside New Horizons, the temperature was maintained between 10 and 30°C.

All this required a lot of energy. Solar batteries could not be used due to Pluto’s considerable distance from the Sun. Therefore, a radioisotope thermoelectric generator with 72 plutonium “pills” was used to power New Horizons. It provided 245 watts of power.4

New Horizons radioisotope thermoelectric generator.

Source: Wikipedia

Flight to Pluto

When New Horizons finally launched into space on January 19, 2006, it was launched using the most powerful modification of Atlas 5, called 551. It has five solid-fuel boosters. Thanks to this, the spacecraft was able to accelerate to 12.4 km/s. Then the acceleration unit kicked in, bringing the speed up to 16.207 km/s.

New Horizons headed for Jupiter, but only reached it a year later, in February 2007. A lot happened during that time. Back in February 2006, engineers tested the spacecraft’s cameras and used them to photograph an asteroid that at the time was known only by its number, 132524. The distance to it was then 102,000 km. Thus, at the beginning of its mission, the spacecraft enriched our collection of celestial bodies photographed from close range.

However, on August 24 of the same year, an event occurred that was significantly less pleasant for the spacecraft team. The 26th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union adopted a new classification of bodies in the Solar System. The reason for this was the discovery of new bodies beyond Neptune’s orbit, which gave new impetus to the study of Pluto.

Lava fountain above Io.

Source: Wikipedia

Ironically, under the new classification, Pluto was classified not as a large planet but as a dwarf planet. Eris’s discoverer, Michael Brown, was openly delighted about this. However, New Horizons team leader Alan Stern called the new classification complete nonsense.

This assessment is not surprising. If the new classification had been adopted a few years earlier, it would have been difficult for the New Horizons team to prove the importance of the project. However, the spacecraft was already flying in space and in September 2007 even began observing Jupiter.

The flyby itself, with its gravitational maneuver, took place in February 2007, and it was an extremely successful moment in terms of raising the mission’s prestige. Some spacecraft had already completed their exploration of the largest planet in the Solar System at that time, while others were still on their way to it. New Horizons turned out to be its main explorer.

Arrokoth.

Source: Wikipedia

The probe took numerous photographs of the planet itself and its moons. The images of the four largest moons were particularly interesting, as it photographed a lava fountain on Io shooting hundreds of kilometers into space. Jupiter’s atmosphere and magnetosphere were also studied.

The mission continues

After flying past Jupiter, New Horizons went into “sleep” mode. Every two to three months, engineers would wake it up and check the systems. This continued until it approached Pluto. Then the whole world started talking about the probe, and this lasted for several weeks. And then, like any sensation, it disappeared from the public eye again.

But the spacecraft’s scientific mission did not end there. It continued to explore trans-Neptunian objects and on January 1, 2019, flew past the asteroid Arrokoth, photographing and studying it. This is the first study of such a body, and it is thanks to it that we know what the outskirts of the Solar System look like.

And the New Horizons mission continues. The radioisotope generator is expected to operate until at least 2035. We can expect that it will make many more discoveries before then.

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The year 2026 should bring us many interesting events that will go down in the annals of world space exploration, from the first manned flight to the Moon in more than half a century to new Starship tests. Here are the main space expectations for the year.

The Artemis II mission

The Artemis II mission will likely be the most high-profile event of 2026. And there is hardly any need to explain why. After all, this will be the first manned flight beyond Earth’s orbit in 54 years, during which humanity will once again touch the Moon.

The Artemis II mission (concept).

Source: NASA

The flight plan is as follows. The super-heavy SLS rocket will launch the Orion spacecraft with four astronauts (three representing NASA and one representing the Canadian Space Agency) into Earth orbit. After making sure that all systems are operating normally, the crew will perform a maneuver that will put the spacecraft on a trajectory for a free flyby of the Moon.

On the sixth day of the flight, Orion will fly around the Moon (the minimum approach distance will be approximately 7,400 km), after which it will turn back toward Earth under the influence of the Moon’s gravity. This will eliminate the need for the expedition to use engines to change course, which should reduce the risks for the expedition. On the tenth day of the flight, the capsule with four astronauts will enter the Earth’s atmosphere and splash down.

The Artemis II mission flight plan.

Source: NASA

Of course, flying around the moon is not the same as landing on it. But still, it is difficult to deny the symbolic significance of this mission. Since the Apollo program, several generations have grown up without seeing humans fly to other celestial bodies. The flight to the Moon will clearly help to raise interest in space exploration and astronautics. Artemis II will also mark the beginning of the next stage in the new lunar race between the US and China. At the moment, the launch of the mission is scheduled for February – March 2026.

The new Starship

As in previous years, the attention of all space enthusiasts will be focused on Starship. This year, SpaceX plans to begin testing a new, even more powerful modification of the super-heavy rocket, designated V3. Its first flight is tentatively scheduled for February. It will follow the same pattern as previous tests.

Transporting Starship to the launch pad.

Source: SpaceX

If V3 proves to be a more reliable rocket than its predecessor, SpaceX will begin working on the next key elements needed to transform Starship from an experimental to a working system. These include reaching orbit, landing on land, and orbital refueling.

The last element is critical for the Artemis program. Without a functioning orbital refueling system, SpaceX will not be able to fulfill its obligations to NASA. As a reminder, as part of the Artemis III mission, the Starship HLS lander, which will be refueled in near-Earth orbit by tanker ships, is to land two astronauts at the south pole of the Moon.

Given the complexity and ambition of the project, it is extremely difficult to predict how successful the V3 tests will be. But one thing is certain – they will remain one of the main events of the year.

The race for reusability

For almost ten years, SpaceX was the only company with a partially reusable orbital rocket. This allowed it to take an unprecedented position in the global launch market and start building the Starlink system, which not so long ago seemed like science fiction.

The first stage of the New Glenn rocket after landing on a barge.

Source: Blue Origin

But in 2025, the situation began to change. Blue Origin became the second company in history to successfully return a rocket stage from space. The Chinese company LandSpace and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation made their first attempts to land the stages of their Zhuque-3 and Long March 12A rockets. They failed – but it is clear that this is only the beginning. In 2026, they will make new attempts to return to the stages.

New rockets will also join the reusability race. Rocket Lab intends to launch its first medium-class Neutron carrier rocket. It features an interesting “sliding” nose cone design, which allows it to be returned to Earth together with the stage.

Artist’s impression of the Neutron rocket.

Source: Rocket Lab

There are also plans to debut several other rockets with reusable first stages. These include Terran-R, Hyperbola-3, Long March 10A… Yes, the launch dates for most of them may subsequently be postponed until next year. And those rockets that do fly are unlikely to be able to return to Earth on their first attempt. Nevertheless, 2026 will likely bring us new reusable launch vehicles.

The first private orbiting station

For many years, discussions about private orbital stations did not go beyond attractive promises and concepts. Bigelow came closest to achieving this goal, even launching an experimental inflatable module that became part of the ISS. However, the company subsequently went bankrupt.

Artist’s impression of the Haven-1 orbital station.

Source: Vast

Nevertheless, in 2026, we may witness the launch of the first private orbital station in history. Vast Space is attempting to accomplish this task.

Vast Space first announced its plans to build the Haven-1 orbital station in 2023. Its main difference from similar projects, which never made it past the drawing board, is its relative simplicity. While other companies typically announce complex multi-module orbital stations, Haven-1 will consist of just one 14-ton compartment with an internal volume of 80 m³, not designed for permanent human habitation. The station will rely on the Crew Dragon spacecraft’s life support system and will be able to accommodate four astronauts for 30 days.

Welding of the main body of Haven-1 has been completed. Vast Space is currently actively testing it, as well as various components of the future station, such as solar panels and the docking mechanism.

Haven-1 orbital station on a test bench.

Source: Vast

Vast Space hopes to launch its station sometime in the second half of 2026. Of course, given the ambitious nature of the task, the date may change. It cannot be ruled out that the launch of Haven-1 will ultimately be postponed until 2027. But we hope that the wait will not be too long. The first commercial orbital station will clearly be a powerful stimulus for other similar projects and will accelerate their implementation.

Events in deep space

In 2026, we can also expect many interesting events in deep space. Four private missions to the Moon are planned (Blue Moon Pathfinder Mission 1, IM-3, Griffin Mission One, Blue Ghost Mission 2). China will also send its mission to our planet’s satellite. We are talking about Chang’e-7, which has a very complex architecture, including a relay satellite, a lander, a rover, and even a flying drone. It is scheduled to land on the south pole of the Moon at the end of 2026.

Selfie taken by the Tianwen-2 spacecraft.

Source: CNSA

During 2026, we will also see several objects in the Solar System up close for the first time. In June, the Chinese Tianwen-2 mission will enter orbit around the asteroid Kamoʻoalewa. It is a quasi-satellite of Earth and is believed to be a fragment of the Moon that was knocked out as a result of some collision.

In June, the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 will fly past the asteroid Torifune. And in December, the European spacecraft Hera will reach the double asteroid Didymos. In 2022, the DART probe crashed into its satellite Dimorph. In this way, NASA tested whether such an impact could change the orbit of a celestial body (in the future, this technology could be used to deflect dangerous objects away from Earth). Hera will carefully study Didymos and Dimorph to gather as much information as possible about how the impact affected the pair.

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