Exploring the Kuiper Belt: New Horizons' Ongoing Scientific Endeavors

The New Horizons spacecraft, originally designed to study Pluto, is still conducting scientific research in the Kuiper Belt. Despite being nearly twice as far from the Sun as Pluto, the spacecraft's instruments are functioning well, and the team is repurposing them for new tasks. New Horizons has already provided valuable insights into the formation of our Solar System, and it continues to explore the Kuiper Belt, discovering over 100 new objects and studying their surface properties. The spacecraft's power source, an RTG, is expected to last for an unknown duration, and funding for the mission has been extended through at least 2028 or 2029.