Engineers lower a metal canister toward the radioisotope thermoelectric generator RTG below it.

In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, engineers lower a metal canister toward the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) below it. The RTG is being returned to the RTG facility after completing a fit check with the spacecraft. The RTG is the baseline power supply for the New Horizons, scheduled to launch in January 2006 on a journey to Pluto and its moon, Charon. As it approaches Pluto, the spacecraft will look for ultraviolet emission from Pluto's atmosphere and make the best global maps of Pluto and Charon in green, blue, red and a special wavelength that is sensitive to methane frost on the surface. It will also take spectral maps in the near infrared, telling the science team about Pluto's and Charon's surface compositions and locations and temperatures of these materials. When the spacecraft is closest to Pluto or its moon, it will take close-up pictures in both visible and near-infrared wavelengths. It is expected to reach Pluto in July 2015.