In addition to the low-bandwidth pointed out by other commenters, the burden on NASA's Deep Space Network a significant limiting factor [1]. The DSN is the onl

In addition to the low-bandwidth pointed out by other commenters, the burden on NASA's Deep Space Network a significant limiting factor [1]. The DSN is the only system of antennas capable of communicating with New Horizons at its current distance, and shares the responsibility of communicating with many other deep space missions. So, aside from having a bandwidth on the order of 1 kb/s, New Horizons is also going to have to wait in a queue of other missions waiting to use the DSN. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Deep_Space_Network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Deep_Space_Network