New Horizons Pluto flyby, NASA announced that its New Horizons probe, destined for a 2015 rendezvous with the dwarf planet Pluto, had successfully emerged from hibernation. This puts everything in place for the spacecraft to start the first up-close observations of Pluto on January 15, 2015—only four days short of the nine-year anniversary of its launch.
Unlike the Rosetta mission, which went into a single long, deep hibernation, multiple periods of hibernation were planned for New Horizons. During its nine-year trip to Pluto, the probe went into 18 different hibernation periods. It wasn't completely shut down during these periods, either; its flight computer was actively monitoring it and broadcast a weekly status message. Its wake-up periods were also used to check out the hardware that had been put to sleep.
But this rest period is over, and everything on board will be getting a full check-up before observations begin next month. By May, New Horizons' cameras will be able to image Pluto and its moons with a higher resolution than the Hubble telescope can provide. The probe will fly through the system with a closest approach scheduled for July 14, 2015.
NASA recently announced it had identified additional targets for New Horizons to visit once it's past Pluto, so the science won't end when the probe enters the Kuiper Belt.
