Going to Pluto
Whether or not you think Pluto is really a planet, it is still pretty cool that on Tuesday NASA is scheduled to launch the New Horizons probe to explore the icy little thing. Of course there have been some delays and could still be more but the launch window doesn't close until February 14th so odds are pretty good that the Atlas 5 rocket will eventually fly.
According to Mike Schnieder of the Associated Press in his story published today:
"When the 7-foot-tall (2.1-meter-tall) New Horizons spacecraft reaches Pluto as early as 2015, the spacecraft will study the ninth planet's large moon, Charon, as well as two other moons just discovered last year. The $700 million mission should provide scientists with a better understanding of the Kuiper Belt, a mysterious region that lies beyond Neptune at the outer limits of the planetary system."
As cool as this is I have to ask... if we can spend money to send a probe to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt why can't we fund manned space missions to the Moon, Mars or even to fix the Hubble Telescope (although that does seem to be headed back to the table)?
According to Mike Schnieder of the Associated Press in his story published today:
"When the 7-foot-tall (2.1-meter-tall) New Horizons spacecraft reaches Pluto as early as 2015, the spacecraft will study the ninth planet's large moon, Charon, as well as two other moons just discovered last year. The $700 million mission should provide scientists with a better understanding of the Kuiper Belt, a mysterious region that lies beyond Neptune at the outer limits of the planetary system."
As cool as this is I have to ask... if we can spend money to send a probe to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt why can't we fund manned space missions to the Moon, Mars or even to fix the Hubble Telescope (although that does seem to be headed back to the table)?
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