NASA receives signal from a probe of 6.5 billion kilometers



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NASA's New Horizons spacecraft received a signal that flew near the farthest point of our solar system.

According to the BBC, the probe has moved very rapidly, near the asteroid "Ultima Toli", which consists of a giant snowball of about 30 km wide.

The space probe, which is the furthest distance to explore, is located 6.5 billion kilometers from the Earth, to explore an object of the solar system.

The probe will provide NASA with a wealth of information, images and scientific data over the next few months.

An antenna of the Spanish Agency has received the signal from the probe New Horizons.

Staff at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland were applauded as the first signs of the probe arrived.

Read also: Look at the history of the flag with black holes in the space

"We have a very good spacecraft," said Alice Bauman, the mission's operations manager, explaining that the vehicle will send more images and space data into the space in the airspace. next days.

This first contact gives the observers a good idea of ​​the performance of the New Horizons spacecraft when it flies 3,500 kilometers from the Tulli surface.

The asteroid in orbit is located in the Kuiper Belt, 1.5 billion kilometers from Pluto, which the New Horizons visited in 2015.

It is estimated that there are thousands of objects in the Kuiper belt, such as an asteroid in orbit, and their icy state certainly bears the evidence of the state of the solar system there 4.6 billion years ago.

"Last night, the American New Horizons spacecraft led the longest exploration of the history of humanity," said Alan Stern, chief scientist of the New Horizons mission.

A rock tug was sent last night and does not contain much more details about previous photos, so it's more ambiguous to know if a single rock looks like an asymmetric peanut or if two rocks are spinning around one of l & # 39; other. "He said.

The new Horizons probe has been designed to approach the surface of the asteroid Ulythma, over a distance of 3,500 km, observing its rotation, its geological nature, its structure and its environment.

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