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Stopping at pluto is incredibly hard. To stop new horizons at pluto currently would take around 66 TONS of fuel. It currently has something in the range of 170 lbs. Compare this with the fact that the rocket sled which accelerated the ship to its current trajectory had a starting weight (with payload) of around 23.5 tons, of which the payload was a meager .5 tons. If the payload to go to pluto increased to 66.5 tons, launching new horizons would of been the greatest single undertaking in mankind's space exploration history.
Rockets are far far more efficient when they can be used close to strong gravitational bodies (oberth effect). Pluto does not offer this advantage, and you have to use raw engine power to stop there. Alternatively, you could attempt to set your orbit in a soft way that would have you reach apogee when intersecting pluto. The downside of this method is the already long travel time to pluto gets far longer. Don't know off the top of my head what it would be, but probably in the range of a 150 years to get there.
Until EMDrive is working, this is our best, and likely only chance in the next at least 40-50 years to see pluto up close.
Rockets are far far more efficient when they can be used close to strong gravitational bodies (oberth effect). Pluto does not offer this advantage, and you have to use raw engine power to stop there. Alternatively, you could attempt to set your orbit in a soft way that would have you reach apogee when intersecting pluto. The downside of this method is the already long travel time to pluto gets far longer. Don't know off the top of my head what it would be, but probably in the range of a 150 years to get there.
Until EMDrive is working, this is our best, and likely only chance in the next at least 40-50 years to see pluto up close.
