---
title: Pluto New Horizon | Optimax Lenses | Aerospace Optics
description: The LORRI camera, equipped with Optimax lenses, captured high-resolution images of Pluto during NASA’s New Horizons mission. Learn more.
image: https://www.optimaxsi.com/hubfs/Pluto-New-Horz-Optimax-on-board-banner.jpg
---

![Pluto New Horizon Optimax Optics on Board](https://www.optimaxsi.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Pluto-New-Horz-Optimax-in-Space.jpg?width=300&name=Pluto-New-Horz-Optimax-in-Space.jpg)

# Pluto New Horizon

- 01 Optimax on Board
- 02 Mission Details
- 03 Mission Resources

01 Optimax on Board02 Mission Details03 Mission Resources

## Optimax on Board

The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), often referred to as the “eagle eyes” of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, played a crucial role in capturing the first close-up images of Pluto and other distant worlds in the Kuiper Belt. Equipped with Optimax lenses, this high-magnification black-and-white camera features a telescope with an 8.2-inch aperture, which focuses visible light onto a charge-coupled device (CCD), similar to a digital camera. LORRI’s powerful optics allowed it to map Pluto’s far side and provide detailed geologic data from long distances, significantly enhancing our understanding of this distant region.

## Mission Details

The New Horizons mission will help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of the dwarf planet Pluto and by venturing deeper into the distant, mysterious Kuiper Belt – a relic of solar system formation.

New Horizons launched on Jan. 19, 2006; it swung past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February 2007 and will conduct a five-month-long reconnaissance flyby study of Pluto and its moons in the summer of 2015. Pluto’s closest approach is scheduled for July 14, 2015. As part of an extended mission, the spacecraft is expected to head farther into the Kuiper Belt to examine one or two of the ancient, icy mini-worlds in that vast region, at least a billion miles beyond Neptune’s orbit.

Sending a spacecraft on this long journey will help us answer basic questions about the surface properties, geology, interior makeup, and atmospheres of these bodies.

**LAUNCHED:** 2006

## Mission Resources

Check out the entire mission details on the NASA website:

Videos and Images Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

- [Pluto New Horizon Mission](https://science.nasa.gov/mission/new-horizons)
- [Pluto New Horizon – Stories](https://science.nasa.gov/mission/new-horizons/stories/)

![CTA-back2](https://www.optimaxsi.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CTA-back2.webp?width=300&name=CTA-back2.webp)

### Learn from the Experts

Space can be a harsh environment for optical coatings. Optimax has successfully provided antireflection (AR) coatings for a wide range of space applications. Discover our Technical Paper on "Antireflection Coatings for Space Applications" which outlines the results of testing done to qualify Optimax AR coatings for Space. 

[Read More](https://go.optimaxsi.com/antireflection-coatings-for-space-application)

[All Technical papers](https://www.optimaxsi.com/technical-papers)

[![The Year of Pluto - New Horizons Documentary](https://go.optimaxsi.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202024-10-22%20145650.png?width=300&name=Screenshot%202024-10-22%20145650.png)

The Year of Pluto - New Horizons Documentary Brings Humanity Closer to the Edge of the Solar System

New Horizons is the first mission to the Kuiper Belt, a gigantic zone of icy bodies and mysterious small objects orbiting beyond Neptune. This region also is known as the “third” zone of our solar system, beyond the inner rocky planets and outer gas giants.  Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland, designed, built and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.   The Year of Pluto - NASA New Horizons is a one hour documentary which takes on the hard science and gives us answers to how the mission came about and why it matters. 

](https://www.optimaxsi.com/optimax-in-space/pluto-new-horizon#)

![space-back-scaled](https://www.optimaxsi.com/hs-fs/hubfs/space-back-scaled.webp?width=300&name=space-back-scaled.webp)

### Explore Cutting-Edge Aerospace Optics with Optimax - Precision Lenses for Every Mission

Optimax is a world-class manufacturer of precision optics, providing high-quality imaging lenses essential for aerospace applications, from deep space exploration to optical telecommunications.

[View Missions](https://www.optimaxsi.com/optimax-in-space)

[Learn More](https://www.optimaxsi.com/solutions/aerospace/)

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