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NASA is to fund feasibility studies for two proposed missions to Pluto and
the Kuiper Belt. Last year it cut a planned Pluto mission, and the Bush
administration did not include Pluto in its budget proposal, but Congress and
planetary scientists have been pushing for a probe to be launched by 2006.
Pluto’s orbit is taking it further from the Sun and astronomers want to get a
close-up view before 2020, when they expect the planet’s atmosphere to freeze.
NASA will spend $450,000 on each of the three-month studies. By the time
they are finished, it should know if a Pluto probe is in next year’s budget.