European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 2, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                I we a Ltd j / a 4 a. W proposed Mission a clash Between old and new philosophies by Lee Siegel the associated press Averick Nasa scientists and engineers heeding their Boss Call for faster and cheaper space missions want to Send two Small space probes to study Pluto. The solar system s last known unexplored planet. _ the proposal has yet to receive congressional funding or Nasa approval As a full fledged Mission. It has revealed tensions Between the Agency s tradition of building big expensive spacecraft and an Effort to simplify and Speed up such projects and reduce their Cost. Those designing the Pluto Mission Are following the Quot faster better cheaper Quot philosophy advocated by Daniel s. Goldin administrator of the National aeronautics and space administration. Quot it s a very Young aggressive competitive team a Guys who Are too dumb and Young to know we can t do it Quot said Rich Terrile the Pluto Mission s chief scientist at Nasa s Jet propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena Calif. A Quot we saw this space program turned into a fat. Bureaucracy and we re chomping at the bit to recapture the Good old Days Quot the Pluto Mission could Cost $600 million to $1 a billion in current dollars depending on whether the probes Are launched by russian or . Rockets respectively. By comparison Nasa expects to spend More than $2 billion to launch the Cassini spaceship in 1997 to investigate Saturn. The proposed Mission to Pluto and its Moon Charon has found favor with Goldin. His chief spokesman Jeff Carr insisted Coldin has t made the Pluto Mission a priority and has Only Given it Quot higher visibility Quot As a Model for his Quot Campaign to do things faster better a.  that still upsets some researchers who say Goldin is putting Pluto ahead of More important projects. Goldin is a Bush administration appointee and his future under president Clinton is Uncertain. The same gds for any projects that get his Blessing. This too raises the tension level. The Young Pluto Mission planners a scientists and engineers mostly in their 30s a want to use two 362-Pound space probes. Each would measure 4yh feet in diameter and 3 i feet High and Bear just four instruments each including a tiny television camera. To reach Pluto the probes would have to be lightweight and fast which Means using cutting Edge technology said Robert Staehle the project s manager. The probes would be launched around 1999 to reach Pluto Between 2005 and 2007, flying within 6,200 Miles it of the planet. Each probe would study one Side of Pluto. A Pluto Mission the old Nasa Way would Cost at least twice As much take More than 20 years to execute and would employ one or two ton spacecraft Laden with scientific instruments. Quot instead of sending another Houseboat we re sending very sophisticated desk sized spacecraft Quot said Alan Stern a planetary scientist at the Southwest research Institute in san Antonio and chairman of one of two Nasa advisory panels that support the proposed Mission. Voicing the other Side John Pike space policy analyst for the federation of american scientists in Washington said Quot Nasa has a process for selecting missions on the basis of scientific Merit and Pluto was pretty far Down on that  learning More about planets already visited for instance holds More interest and import for Many researchers he said. Goldin is trying to put Public fascination with space exploration on an equal footing with Nasa s scientific pursuits another observer added. Pluto discovered in 1930 by . Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh is the solar system s ninth and smallest known planet at roughly two thirds the diameter of Earth s Moon. While Nasa has sent robotic explorers to every other known planet it has yet to explore Pluto named for the roman god of the underworld and its Moon Charon named for the mythical Boatman who ferried the dead across the River styx into Pluto s realm. Usually Pluto is the outermost planet but its Long 1 elliptical orbit sometimes bring it closer to the Sun than Neptune As it has been since 1979. It again becomes the outermost planet in 1999. Quot it s the mount Everest of planetary exploration Quot said Staehle. Quot it s usually the farthest away it s die coldest. It s the hardest to . Pluto is Quot the missing piece of the Puzzle which helps us understand the origin of the solar system Quot Terrile said. Scientists know Pluto is Rocky and icy unlike the other planets in the outer orbits of the Sun a Jupiter Saturn uranus and Neptune a which essentially Are balls of Gas. The solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago when a swirling disk of dust ice and Gas clumped to form the planets. Many astronomers believe the known solar system May be surrounded by a Belt of hundreds maybe thousands of never seen objects they Call Quot ice dwarfs Quot thought to be Between comets and planets in size. Pluto and Charon could turn out to be Large ice dwarfs. Scientists said craters on Pluto and Charon May disclose something about the nature of ice dwarfs if such objects have hit the planet and its Moon. Nasa last launched spacecraft toward an unexplored planet in 1977, w Hen the twin voyager probes sailed off to Jupiter Saturn uranus and Neptune j taxpayers Are fascinated by missions to unexplored planets so Congress May find the Pluto Mission appealing Hen asked to Start financing the project probably next year Staehle said. \ Nasa told Staehle the Cost of two Pluto spacecraft can t exceed $400 million. Titan 4-Centaur launch vehicles 4lone Cost $400 million. That would boost the Mission s Price to $1.2 billion not including costs for launching and i running the Mission. But Staehle said Nasa expects to get a Price break on the american rockets bringing the Mission Cost to under $1 billion. Or it May buy cheaper slower russian Proton butchers they would slow the Mission s arrival at Pluto to 2007 to 2010, but drop the Mission s entire Cost to $600 million. Pluto Here with its Moon Charon is Tho last unexplored planet in the solar system. It will Cost from $600 million to Al billion to Send unmanned Prebee there. The Pluto probe uranus the twin space probes for Nasa s proposed Mission to Fly past Pluto and its Moon Charon will carry instruments weighing a total of 15.4 pounds and needing less Power than a refrigerator Light bulb. This is the equipment a miniature television camera to Send Back pictures of craters and other surface features reveal hazes or Clouds in Pluto s atmosphere and discover any unknown Moons or rings around Pluto. A infrared mapping device to Analyse the Content of rocks ice and if they exist organic chemicals on Pluto or Charon. A ultraviolet sensor to Analyse Pluto s atmosphere. A radio receiver to help scientists measure temperatures and pressures in the planet s atmosphere. A the associated press Mercury a a Mars a Earth a Venus Saturn Jupiter Neptune a look at the planet facts about Pluto and its Moon Charon pronounced like the woman s name Sharon. A discovery astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930 from Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Ariz. Astronomer James Christy found Charon in 1978, using the . Naval Observatory near Flagstaff. A origins some astronomers believe a collision of larger objects created Pluto and Charon. Another common theory that Pluto was a Moon of Neptune that escaped has been challenged. A size Pluto s estimated diameter is 1,430 to 1,510 Miles the smallest known planet in our solar system. Charon s diameter  at 746 to 795 Miles Small but in this solar system the largest Moon relative to the planet it orbits. For this reason some astronomers Call Pluto and Charon a Quot double  a Calendar one year on Pluto equals 248 Earth years the time it takes Pluto to Complete one orbit around the Sun. One month or one Day on Pluto both equal 6.4 Earth Days. That s because Pluto takes 6.4 Earth Days to spin on its Axis while Charon circles Pluto in the same time. No other planet has equivalent months and Days. A orbit Pluto usually is the ninth and outermost planet. But its elliptical orbit brings it As near As 2.7 billion Miles from the Sun and As far As 4.6 billion Miles so sometimes Pluto is closer to the Sun than Neptune. That s True Between 1979 arid 1999. Charon is 12,400 Miles from Pluto. A conditions cold and somewhat dark. Pluto s surface temperature is around 387 degrees below Zero fahrenheit sunlight hitting Pluto is 900 times less intense than that reaching Earth but provides 250 times the illumination Earth gets from a full Moon. Pluto appears to have ice Caps especially its Bright South pole. A Gravity Pluto s Gravity is 1 percent to 2 percent that of Earth s. A 200-Pound Man on Earth would weigh 2 pounds to 4 pounds on Pluto. A composition scientists believe Pluto is about three parts Rock and one part Frozen gases. Its icy surface is 97 percent Frozen nitrogen the rest is mostly Frozen Carbon monoxide and methane or natural Gas. Charon s surface contains water ice. A atmosphere Pluto s thin atmosphere contains methane but is otherwise a mystery. As Pluto moves away from the Sun its atmosphere freezes and Falls to the planet s surface. By the year 2020, most of the atmosphere will be Frozen and stay that Way for about two centuries until Pluto again approaches the Sun. A the associated press 18 the stars Ano Stripe tuesday Worth 2, 1993 the stars and stripes 19