New Horizons: Pluto and Beyond
Students follow NASA's New Horizons mission from its record-speed launch in January 2006 and Jupiter gravity assist in 2007 to the first flyby of Pluto on July 14, 2015 and the flyby of Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth on January 1, 2019, and learn why Pluto turned out to be an active world.
Grades 5-8About 15 minutes of narrated flight, plus discussion stops8 stops
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What students will see and do
Students start at Earth for the launch, visit the New Horizons spacecraft, swing past Jupiter, spend three stops at Pluto (Sputnik Planitia, ice mountains and glaciers, blue haze and Charon), visit Arrokoth, and return to New Horizons where it flies today. Aetherion pauses for discussion at Pluto's 'A Heart on Pluto' stop (what keeps a surface young), at Arrokoth (why an unchanged world is valuable) and at the final New Horizons stop (what it should study next).
Learning objectives
- Describe the main events of the New Horizons mission in order, from launch to Arrokoth.
- Explain how a gravity assist at Jupiter shortened the trip to Pluto.
- Use the lack of craters on Sputnik Planitia as evidence that Pluto's surface is young and active.
- Explain why New Horizons uses nuclear power instead of solar panels.
NGSS connections
| MS-ESS1-3 | Students compare properties of Pluto, Charon and Arrokoth, and the scale of distances in the outer solar system. |
|---|---|
| MS-ESS1-2 | A gravity assist uses Jupiter's gravity and motion to change the spacecraft's speed and path. |
| MS-ETS1-1 | The mission's design addressed constraints of distance, dim sunlight, a 4.5-hour signal delay and limited power. |
Stops on this journey
- The Fastest Launch
- A Spacecraft the Size of a Piano
- A Boost from Jupiter
- A Heart on Pluto (discussion stop)
- Mountains of Water Ice
- Blue Haze and a Red Moon
- Arrokoth, a Leftover Building Block (discussion stop)
- Still Flying (discussion stop)
Vocabulary
- dwarf planet
- gravity assist
- flyby
- Kuiper Belt
- nitrogen ice
- radioisotope power
- hibernation
- contact binary