The oft-delayed, oft-cancelled voyage to Pluto is back, according to this Los Angeles Times article (republished in today's Seattle Times, where I found it).
According to the article, the New Horizons mission will lift off in 2006, and swing by Jupiter to pick up speed, en route to a redezvous with Pluto and Charon in 2015 or 2016. After flying through their immediate neighborhood, the probe will continue on through the Kuiper Belt, the enigmatic belt of debris of which Pluto may have been a part.
This planet is the final frontier of our solar system. I am glad that a mission has finally been confirmed, as it will become more and more expensive as Pluto moves further out in its wildly eccentric orbit.
Read the whole article; it's an interesting look at the difficulties in seeing a NASA project through all the way.
posted on June 08, 2003 02:58 PM
