Missions to Pluto

As of today, no man-made spacecrafts have been sent to study Pluto or its moon Charon. The first future mission is named the Pluto-Kuiper Express, currently in the works at NASA. Originally named the Pluto Fast Flyby (PFF), its main objectives are the study of surface geology and morphology of the Pluto-Charon pair. The Pluto-Kuiper Express will also do extensive tests on the planet's atmospheric composition as well as calculate planetary escape velocity. The planned launch date is December of 2004. The date of the launch is critical, as the probe must be sent when the planets are close to each other, and another approach is not due for centuries.

Copyright © 2000 by Gary Chan and Matthew McDermott. All rights reserved.