Alan Stern, a New Orleans native and the principal investigator for the New Horizons mission to Pluto, presented the results of the mission to the University Friday in the Hill Memorial Library.
Stern said he worked on the Pluto mission for 14 years, one of the 27 missions he has worked on in his life. It was officially funded and began in November of 2001. He credits himself with naming the mission “New Horizons.”
 “And among all is a misfit called Pluto,” Stern said.
Once the mission received its funding, it had to use planet Jupiter as a gravitational tool to get to Pluto. There was only one three-week window available in January 2006, so New Horizons had to be created in four years and two months.
Stern said unlike what has been taught in schools for so long, Pluto is not the end of our solar system, but rather the gateway to the outer solar system. There are numerous planets farther than Pluto that all differ in many ways.
He said Pluto has five moons and four of them were discovered during the mission. He said Pluto and one of its moons formed almost identically to how Earth and its moon formed, so Pluto and its moon provided a good analogy for our study of the planet.
The mission discovered Pluto is a rocky planet with dense nitrogen snow and ice caps made of methane. It is mountainous and has mobile glaciers and ice volcanoes.
“Pluto is a geological wonderland,” Stern said.
Stern said the most challenging part of the mission was enduring the long amount of time it took to complete the mission. He said the flight mission alone took nine and a half years. It was important not to make any mistakes.
 “My favorite fact about Pluto is that it’s so awesome that it’s something for everyone,” Stern said. “It’s got a fascinating atmosphere, fascinating system of moons, really complex geology that’s taught us a lot of new things that we didn’t know before we explored it. My favorite memories are when we got launched and we were finally flying there and we knew we were on our way. And also the fly-by itself because it was such an emotional high for all of us who had worked on it for so long to see it unfold.”
Stern said he had fun coming back to the state where he was born and being able to enjoy the food here again. He also felt proud to come home and tell people about the most meaningful project in his career.
He said that New Horizons still has a long life left if NASA ever decides to utilize it for another mission. Stern estimated the main operating system could last another 20 years.
Stern said he was proud the United States was the first country to explore all the planets in our solar system.
“Kids all around the world will read about that centuries from now,” Stern said. “People say our country can’t do great things: I point this. Tell me if we can’t do great things, even in the 21^st century.”