NASA Faces Criticism Over Proposed Change to New Horizons Mission

NASA is debating whether to shift the focus of the New Horizons Pluto probe to a sun-studying mission or keep it on its original mission. The probe's future beyond 2024 is uncertain, and it may have to compete in a separate senior review for the heliophysics division beginning in 2025. New Horizons' principal investigator, Alan Stern, expressed bewilderment over NASA's decision to approve only two of the three years proposed for the spacecraft's second extended mission. Stern argued that a shift in New Horizons' focus to heliospheric science could sacrifice the study of new Kuiper Belt objects.