NASA selects Pluto mission design
Posted: Thu, Nov 29, 2001, 9:39 PM ET (0239 GMT)
NASA announced late Thursday that it has selected a design for a spacecraft mission to Pluto for further study, but cautioned that funding for such a mission is not guaranteed. NASA selected the "New Horizons" mission proposal, written by a team led by longtime Pluto mission advocate Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute. New Horizons was one of two proposals selected by NASA earlier this year for a three-month "Phase A" mission study. The proposal will now undergo a "Phase B" study to ensure the risks associated with the mission, including the ability to obtain a RTG to power the spacecraft, can be overcome. Also, NASA said that additional funding for the mission must be available for the program to proceed beyond Phase B. Congress appropriated $30 million for fiscal year 2002 for a Pluto mission, over objections of the Bush Administration, who wanted to kill the mission, but there is no funding for the mission in proposed budgets in later years.
NASA announced late Thursday that it has selected a design for a spacecraft mission to Pluto for further study, but cautioned that funding for such a mission is not guaranteed. NASA selected the "New Horizons" mission proposal, written by a team led by longtime Pluto mission advocate Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute. New Horizons was one of two proposals selected by NASA earlier this year for a three-month "Phase A" mission study. The proposal will now undergo a "Phase B" study to ensure the risks associated with the mission, including the ability to obtain a RTG to power the spacecraft, can be overcome. Also, NASA said that additional funding for the mission must be available for the program to proceed beyond Phase B. Congress appropriated $30 million for fiscal year 2002 for a Pluto mission, over objections of the Bush Administration, who wanted to kill the mission, but there is no funding for the mission in proposed budgets in later years.
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