New Horizons spacecraft approaches dwarf planet Pluto and its moon Charon. - Illustrations

NASAs New Horizons unmanned spacecraft approaches dwarf planet Pluto and its moon Charon. New Horizons has been en route to Pluto since its launch from Earth in 2006 and is scheduled to make its closest approach on July 14, 2015. New Horizons is about the size and shape of a grand piano and weighed 1,054 pounds at launch. The high-gain dish antenna is about 7 feet in diameter and is employed for communication with the Earth. In this image the New Horizons spacecraft is about 15,000 miles from Pluto (upper right), 27,000 miles from its largest moon Charon (lower left) and 2.97 billion miles from the Earth. This side of the spacecraft on the left can be seen the Visible/Near Infrared Multi-Spectral Imager and the Short Wavelength Infrared Spectral Imager (aka Ralph), and the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (aka Alice). On the right extending about four feet from the main body of the spacecraft is the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) which provides constant electric power for the 10 year mission from heat produced by 24 pounds of plutonium-238. While little is known about Plutos appearance, here this Kuiper belt dwarf planet is realized as a frozen world covered with various ices, hosting a thin atmosphere of nitrogen, methane and other hydrocarbons too possibly, with a significantly weathered surface as Plutos 248-year orbit alternately brings it closer then further from the warmth of the sun.