Optimax Optics On-Board the Pluto New Horizons Satellite

The first mission to the dwarf planet Pluto and outer edge of our solar system to arrive on July 14th after a nine-year journey

The Pluto New Horizons mission is expected to provide the first close-up photos and measurements of the dwarf planet at 7:50 a.m. ET on July 14th with Optimax lenses on-board to provide some of the first high-resolution images of the mysterious planet.

“Our objective is to leverage our optics manufacturing expertise for programs that benefit mankind and have fun doing it,” said Rick Plympton, CEO, Optimax Systems, Inc. “New Horizons is just one more example of our lenses enabling humankind to view some of the most amazing things in the universe for the first time.”

NASA’s New Horizons mission was launched in 2006 and has already traveled 3.5 billion miles, swinging past Jupiter and will conduct a five-month-long flyby study of Pluto and its moons before venturing deeper into the Kuiper Belt at the edges of our solar system. The images and data provided by New Horizons will help us find out what the atmosphere and surface of Pluto looks like.

Optimax optics are on-board the LORRI (Long Range Reconnaissance Imager) telescopic camera which will obtain data at long distances and map Pluto’s far side and provide high resolution geologic data.

Optimax is a high-precision optics manufacturer located in Ontario, NY that builds the optics behind the latest breakthrough technologies in aerospace, medical, and consumer electronics. For small volume, highly quality optics, Optimax is set up to manufacture, test and deliver with speed and performance.

For more information on New Horizons: NASA New Horizons Fact Sheet

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Image #1 – Artist’s concept of the New Horizons spacecraft as it approaches Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, in July 2015. (courtesy of NASA.gov)

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Image #2 – New Horizons rendition of spacecraft and instruments (Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)

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