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Yesterday the NASA New Horizons spacecraft successfully executed a flyby of the dwarf planet Pluto, one of the Trans-Neptunian objects, to within a distance of just over 12,500 km.

Project Dragonfly is a feasibility study for an interstellar mission, conducted by small, distributed spacecraft, propelled primarily by laser sails. The spacecraft shall be capable of reaching the target star system within a century and be able to decelerate.

The Mariner program was a joint NASA/JPL initiative which ran from 1962 to 1973 and saw robotic probes sent to nearly all of the planets of the solar system. The program achieved many firsts, including the first planetary flyby, the first pictures from another planet, the first planetary orbiter, the first gravity assist manoeuvre.

The Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft were launched in the 1970s. They are now heading out into interstellar space. One day, we may build faster spacecraft and overtake them.

We live on a planet, which is in orbit around a star, which is in orbit around a galactic centre on a circular journey that takes around 220 million years. The galactic centre is seen in the constellation Sagittarius from our point of view.

We are pleased to report that the launch was a huge success and the balloon flew from Northern Ireland to Oxfordshire. The balloon drifted 100 miles off course but the team were able to recover it. The total flight time was around 3.5 hours.