NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has been heading toward Pluto for some nine years, but the probe is only now officially entering the phase it was launched for.
According to the Washington Post, the phase, called the "encounter sequence," is a series of directives designed specifically for the flyby on July 14.
"We're delighted with the New Horizons response to the anomaly," Jim Green, NASA's director of planetary science, said in a press release. "Now we're eager to get back to the science and prepare for the payoff that's yet to come."
As New Horizons has been getting closer to Pluto, it has been able to photograph the mysterious dwarf planet with its Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI). One of those images showed distinct dark spots on the face of Pluto New Horizons would get a close look at and following images focused in on them.
"We're at the 'man in the moon' stage of viewing Pluto," John Spencer, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., said in another press release. "It's easy to imagine you're seeing familiar shapes in this bizarre collection of light and dark features. However, it's too early to know what these features really are."
The New Horizons team experienced an unforeseen loss of communications, which was termed an "anomaly" they have since moved on from.
"This is a speed bump in terms of the total return we expect to receive from this historic mission," Alan Stern, New Horizons' principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute, said in the release. "When we get a clear look at the surface of Pluto for the very first time, I promise, it will knock your socks off."
