Pluto-Bound Spacecraft Ends Hibernation To Start Mission

An anonymous reader writes NASA's New Horizons spacecraft awoke from hibernation on Saturday and sent a radio confirmation that it had successfully turned itself back on one and a half hours later. The spacecraft has been traveling for nine years across the solar system towards its destination, Pluto. From the article: "In 2006, with New Horizons already on its way, Pluto was stripped of its title as the ninth planet in the solar system and became a dwarf planet, of which more than 1,000 have since been discovered in the Kuiper Belt. With New Horizons approaching Pluto's doorstep, scientists are eager for their first close-up look at this unexplored domain."

Comments

As far as I'm concerned, Pluto is still a planet.

[BarbaraHudson]

Sure, it might have originated in the Kuiper belt, but it isn't there any more. Besides, it's the first object to be named after a cartoon character, which kind of made it fun (and easy to remember) when we were kids.