NASA mulls sending orbiter mission to Pluto; funds feasibility check

Eyeing a mission to explore farst 'planet' of our solar system, NASA is reportedly considering to send an orbiter to dwarf planet Pluto. According to international reports, NASA on Saturday has funded Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to study feasibility of a possible Pluto orbiter mission. SwRI will reportedly study design and instrument requirements and cost of potential project.

RE |'Pluto is a planet', declares NASA chief, 13 years since its demotion

NASA mulling Pluto mission?

Previously, in 2015, when NASA's New Horizons mission snapped first-ever up-close photos of Pluto it was found that Pluto consisted a 2-mile-high (3.2 kilometers) mountains of water ice and vast plains of nitrogen ice. Since n, NASA's New Horizons probe has done ar flyby near Kuiper Belt in January 2019. probe is also equipped to do ar flyby near Kuiper Belt, if mission is given a green signal.

RE | NASA to use 'Darth Ver' helmet capsule to carry samples from Mars

What does mission aim to do?

Explaining probable orbiter mission to Pluto, SwRI's Alan Stern said, "Our mission concept is to send a single craft to orbit Pluto for two Earth years before breaking away to visit at least one KBO and one or KBO dwarf planet", in a statement. Unfortunately, new NASA funding does t confirm a Pluto orbiter to be launched. But SwRI team has been working on an orbiter concept for some time, as per reports.

RE | NASA celebrates Halloween, reminisces memories of 2018 expedition

Pluto's Earth-like qualities

Meanwhile, in 2018, a new study published in Science revealed that dwarf planet has dunes. se dunes are t like sand dunes on Earth but are me from solid methane ice grains. Dunes are rare in or planets in our solar system with only Earth, Mars, Venus, Saturn's moon Titan, and Comet 67P containing. With this discovery me on Pluto, scientists h concluded that it still has Earth-like characteristics, despite being 30 times furr away from sun as Earth. This h ded to pro-Pluto debate, with renewed calls for restoration in its planetary status, which been downgred in August 2006 as it did t meet three criteria International Astromical Union uses to define a full-sized planet.

RE | FREEZING NEWS: Winter is coming to Pluto say scientists; planet's atmosphere to disappear by 2030