Although New Horizon’s primary mission is still three years in the future, it has already performed a flyby of asteroid 132524 APL and took measurements of some of Jupiter’s smaller moons, Amalthea, Himalia, and Elara, and studied volcanoes on Io, during a gravity assist from the massive planet.
On July 14, this probe, which has already proven its usefulness, will fly by Pluto and its system of moons: Charon, Hydra, Nix, and the cleverly named S/2011 P1. While it toils in the Plutonian depths, we would like to honor New Horizons with the release of a postage stamp depicting the spacecraft and its primary quarry.
Please join the Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet in signing a petition to ask the US Postal Service to commission this stamp which would look fantastic on envelopes and in collections for years to come.
