it’s too early to send humans to Pluto because we don’t know enough about the planet to design a mission. Some say that human travel to Pluto is not possible in the near future because it would take too long and be too difficult to pack supplies for the trip. Others say that any manned mission to Pluto within the next century would be a suicide mission. 

Pluto is a dwarf planet that’s about 3.6 billion miles away from the sun. It has a thin atmosphere made up of nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide, and its average temperature is -387°F (-232°C). Pluto’s surface temperature can drop to nearly -375°F (-225°C), making it inhospitable to human life without advanced protective gear and technology. 

In 2015, NASA’s New Horizons probe flew by Pluto and its moons, providing valuable data and images. The New Horizons probe was the first spacecraft to explore Pluto up close.

But it would be premature to send human beings to most places in the solar system, including Pluto, today, because we don’t know enough about the planet to design such a mission. It’s also very far beyond our technical capabilities, and there’s no present need to spend the kind of money that it would take

“I think we should send humans everywhere in the solar system, eventually,” Dr. Alan Stern, who is the Principal Investigator for NASA’s New Horizons mission, tells Universe Today. “But it would be premature to send human beings to most places in the solar system, including Pluto, today, because we don’t know enough about the planet to design such a mission. It’s also very far beyond our technical capabilities, and there’s no present need to spend the kind of money that it would take. But, you know, a hundred, or 200, or 500 years from now could be entirely different.”

This lengthy trip is due to Pluto’s vast distance in the outer solar system. While Titan has an average distance of approximately 1.4 billion kilometers (886 million miles) from the Sun, Pluto has an astounding average distance of 5.9 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles) from the Sun, orbiting in the outer solar system within a region of icy objects of known as the Kuiper Belt

it’s too early to send humans to most places in the solar system, including Pluto, because we don’t have enough knowledge about the planet to design a mission. It’s also beyond our technical capabilities, and there’s no immediate need to spend the money required. 

Pluto’s surface is extremely cold, making it unlikely that life could exist there. At such cold temperatures, water is essentially rock-like. However, Pluto’s interior is warmer, and some think there could be an ocean deep inside. 

In 2006, NASA launched the New Horizons spacecraft, which successfully studied Pluto in 2015.

The New Horizons spacecraft’s 2015 flyby of Pluto revealed a complex and active world. Here are some of the discoveries: 

• Atmosphere Pluto has an atmosphere that extends hundreds of miles into the sky and has layers of haze.  The atmospheric pressure is very low, about 100,000 to 1 million times less than Earth’s. Heart New Horizons discovered a large, young, heart-shaped region of ice on Pluto, which scientists named Tombaugh Regio. Mountains New Horizons found mountains made of water ice that may float on top of nitrogen ice. Haze New Horizons discovered a notable atmospheric haze around Pluto, which seems to be made up of multiple layers. Supervolcano Scientists believe a supervolcano erupted on Pluto within the last few million years. Sputnik Planitia NASA used computer simulations to show that the surface of Pluto’s Sputnik Planitia is covered with churning ice cells. Complex New Horizons images and data showed that Pluto and Charon are complex bodies despite their small size and cold temperatures. 

The New Horizons mission’s goal is to understand how the Plutonian system and the Kuiper belt formed, and how the early solar system transformed. The mission also aims to help astrobiologists understand the worlds at the edge of our solar system

The New Horizons mission is the first mission in NASA’s New Horizons Program, which aims to explore the solar system with frequent, medium-class, scientifically focused missions. 

The New Horizons mission is a flyby reconnaissance mission that will conduct the first in situ exploration of the Pluto system and other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs). The mission will study the Pluto system over an 8-month period beginning in early 2015. 

The Kuiper Belt is a gigantic zone of icy bodies and mysterious small objects orbiting beyond Neptune. It extends from about 30 AU, near the orbit of Neptune, to about 50 AU from the Sun

The New Horizons spacecraft didn’t enter orbit around Pluto because it was traveling too fast. New Horizons was launched at high velocity to get to Pluto quickly, so it was moving too quickly to slow down and enter orbit. 

Pluto’s gravity is weak, so it takes a large amount of fuel to go into orbit around the planet. New Horizons zipped past Pluto at nearly 14 kilometers per second (more than 30,000 miles per hour). To put New Horizons probe in Pluto’s orbit, we would need to have sent along an extra 10.9 times its mass in fuel for braking. 

Pluto’s distance from Earth, about 3 billion miles (5 billion km), also presented power challenges for the New Horizons designers. The sun’s rays at that distance are too weak to generate power. There are also long communications delays for those staying in touch with the spacecraft.

In 2019, New Horizons flew by Arrokoth, a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO). This flyby was the farthest in space exploration history, traveling a billion miles beyond Pluto. 

In 2011, scientists used the Hubble Space Telescope to search for KBOs to explore after New Horizons’ Pluto encounter. In 2015, they chose 2014 MU69, also known as Ultima Thule, as New Horizons’ next destination. 

New Horizons is still exploring the Kuiper Belt, a region of icy objects and asteroids beyond Neptune

New Horizons will not return to Earth. The spacecraft is expected to exit the Kuiper Belt around 2028 and continue operating until 2050. 

NASA extended the New Horizons mission to search for Kuiper Belt Objects. The mission is expected to end after 2026 due to the expected decay of its Plutonium reserves. 

As of August 25, 2023, Space reported that the spacecraft is still flying in good health, returning data from the solar system’s outer reaches, and preparing for a possible encounter with another KBO

NASA has extended the New Horizons mission through 2028–2029. The mission will focus on gathering heliophysics data, and will also search for a new flyby target. If a target is found, New Horizons will perform another flyby

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