|
|
Article: NASA's mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.
- Article from:
- The Evening Standard (London, England)
- Article date:
- April 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Carus Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Throughout the 1990s, planetary scientists worked to see NASA start a project to send a space mission to explore Pluto and its moon, Charon, as well as the Kuiper Belt of icy objects that orbit in the distant outer solar system beyond Neptune. Such a mission, they argued, is necessary to fully understand the diversity of planetary bodies in our solar system, and the nature of double planets such as Pluto. (Pluto and Charon are considered a double planet.)
In 2001, NASA requested proposals from teams of scientists to conduct just such a mission. After a hard-fought competition and a detailed review of the designs submitted by each proposal team, NASA selected its ...