Most famously known for its Pluto encounter in July of 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft had also been gathering data for three years on solar wind measurements after passing the orbit of Uranus and before encountering Pluto.
In this region, very little was known about the constant flow of solar particles originating from the sun, or solar wind. The observations from New Horizons provided a new glimpse of our solar system’s space environment and contributed to our understanding of the Sun’s influence in the area near Earth to the boundary where solar wind and interstellar space meet.
The New Horizons spacecraft also observed what could be the starting seeds for highly energetic particles that anomalous cosmic rays are comprised of. Scientists want to understand more about these rays due to the radiation hazard they pose for astronauts.
In the future when astronauts are headed to Mars, they will be affected by the solar wind and other solar events that will change the radiation environment. New Horizon’s observations will help to protect them on their long journey.
To learn more about New Horizons, check out an overview of the mission at NASA.gov.