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Pluto Plans Progress

Posted by michael on from the can't-kick-a-gift-horse-in-the-mouth dept.

akiaki007 writes: "Here is an article on NYTimes (free reg.) that talks about the late discussions about how NASA is going to be spending their money. Looks like the decision to send a craft to Pluto has been made final. January 2006 has been set for the launch date. Pluto's atmosphere is expected to freeze around 2020, so this is the last chance to make any type of observations on the planet we will get until about 2200."

2 of 23 comments (clear)

  1. What will they find? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Probably nothing but ice and iron. Maybe some silicon and sulphur, but not much else. Venus or Jupiter's moons would be much more interesting, IMO.

    We'd probably also find some spam from kilgore bashing the U.S. up there. It seems to be everywhere nowadays.

  2. And we're going there why? by kippy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm a nerd, no doubt about that. I like space and science as much as the next guy but I'm also cheep. My question is this: Why spend our money on a Pluto probe when we could put it towards getting ourselves to Mars or the Moon?

    Has anyone thought of this from a cost/return perspective?

    --
    Blaze a trail to the New World