NASA’s New Horizons probe woke up today to prep for its next deep space flyby

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which flew by Pluto in July of 2015, woke up today from hibernation mode in preparation for its next rendezvous with a space rock at the edge of the Solar System. The vehicle came out of its slumber 3.7 billion miles from Earth, as it’s speeding toward an icy body nicknamed Ultima Thule that orbits the Sun way beyond Neptune. Now that the spacecraft is awake, the mission team has a very full schedule through 2018: the flyby will take place on January