The latest NASA Pluto mission update revealed that the New Horizons robotic probe woke up from hibernation. The spacecraft was designed and built at the Applied Physics Lab at John Hopkins University several years ago.

On December 6, 2014, NASA Pluto mission update showed that the probe traveled 3 billion miles for nine years, primarily to observe the dwarf planet and other worlds in the Kuiper Belt, based on a Yahoo report.

By January 15, 2015, New Horizons will study various bodies in the solar system, with the closest approach estimated to be on July 14, 2015.

To awaken the probe, an alarm was pre-set at 3 p.m. EST. Ground control teams received confirmation much later at 9:30 p.m. Because of the remote distance of the probe from Earth, radio signals take four hours and 25 minutes to arrive.

NASA announced the big news on its Twitter account, "It's ALIVE! The @NASANewHorizons mission control just received full confirmation at 9:53 p.m ET! Pluto get ready!"

Alan Stern, lead research for the NASA Pluto mission update said, ""It's hard to underestimate the evolution that's taking place in our view of the architecture and content of our solar system as a result of the discovery ... of the Kuiper Belt." He added, "We wondered why Pluto was a misfit."

For many decades, scientists were curious why Pluto, which is only half the width of the United States, would exist together with giant plants like Jupiter and Saturn.

NBC News reported that New Horizons will stay awake through its Bastille Day flyby. It is about 162 million miles away from Pluto, images of Pluto taken by the spacecraft will improve and become sharper as it gets closer.

Come July 2015, New Horizons can take photos of ice volcanoes and clouds in the planet. The craft is also expected to take photos of the planet and its five moons. More unexpected elements might also appear such as new moons and icy rings.

After studying Pluto, the team is planning to forward New Horizons to another icy object in the Kuiper Belt. The computer will be reset to bring digital "selfies to the stars".