TED-ED: The journey to Pluto, the farthest world ever explored - Alan Stern

The New Horizons spacecraft, launched by NASA, embarked on a mission to explore Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. After a 9.5-year journey, it faced a critical moment when contact was lost, but the team successfully restored its core load. The mission revealed Pluto's diverse features and continued to explore beyond, aiming to study more distant objects in the Kuiper Belt.

What is the significance of the Kuiper Belt in relation to the New Horizons mission?

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What are the implications of Pluto's atmosphere potentially freezing around 2020?

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Explain the concept of a gravity assist and how it was utilized by New Horizons.

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