Plot Summary:New Horizons is the first mission to the Kuiper Belt, a giant zone of icy bodies and mysterious small objects orbiting beyond Neptune. This region also known as the \"Third\" zone of our solar system, beyond the inner rocky planets and outer gas giants. John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, in Maryland, designed, built and operates the Bew Horizons space craft and manages the mission for NASA's Science Missions directorate in Washington. The Year of Pluto - NASA New Horizon is a one hour documentary that takes on the hard science and gives us the answers to how the mission came about and why it matters. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
在地球上研究冥王星及其临近天体,是天文学最艰巨的挑战之一。自1930年天文学家汤博发现冥王星,到2001年NASA批准新视野计划,再到2015年7月14日新视野号飞掠冥王星,期间耗时良久。新视野号,是美国国家航空航天局的一项探测计划,主要目的是对冥王星、冥卫一等柯伊伯带天体进行考察。新地平线号将成为人类有史以来最快速的人造飞行物体,它飞越月亮绕地球轨道不用九个小时,到达木星引力区只须13个月时间,新地平线号现在它每小时前进大约3.1万英里(4.99万公里),距离地球大约是15.27亿英里(24.57亿公里)。经过9年半共计50亿公里的飞行之后,飞掠冥王星。 今年是冥王星之年。