The New Horizons probe has awakened after hibernating for nearly a year, billions of miles into deep space, from where it sent this image of Pluto on July 14, 2015. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo
July 8 (UPI) -- NASA's New Horizons probe has awakened after hibernating for nearly a year billions of miles into deep space.
New Horizons is often placed into a resource-saving mode while cruising long distances, and had been in hibernation just beyond the dwarf planet Pluto since August 7.
NASA said on Tuesday the spacecraft is some 5.9 billion miles away from Earth -- a distance so vast, it took nearly 9 hours for its radio signals to reach back to mission control.
While operators don't communicate with New Horizons during hibernation, the probe continues to collect data and sends back a weekly status beacon.
