Question

Q. Which of the following NASA missions is associated with the study of the Kuiper Belt?

• A. Kepler and K2
• B. COBE
• C. New Horizons
• D. Voyager

Answer 1

The correct option is C New Horizons

Explanation:

• Kepler and K2: The Kepler Mission is specifically fabricated to survey regions of the Milky Way galaxy in order to discover hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone and determine the fraction of the hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy that might have such planets.
• COBE: The aim of the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) mission was to take accurate measurements of the diffuse radiation between 1 micrometer and 1 cm over the entire celestial sphere. The following quantities were measured: (1) the spectrum of the 3 K radiation over the range 100 micrometers to 1 cm; (2) the anisotropy of this radiation from 3 to 10 mm; and, (3) the spectrum and angular distribution of diffuse infrared background radiation at wavelengths from 1 to 300 micrometers.
• New Horizons: It was the First Mission to the Pluto System and the Kuiper Belt. The mission is to 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.
• Voyager: Its primary objective was the exploration of Jupiter and Saturn. After making a plethora of discoveries there -- such as active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io and intricacies of Saturn's rings -- the mission got extended. In fact, Voyager 2 went on to explore Uranus and Neptune and is still the only spacecraft to have visited those outer planets.