---
title: "NASA Is Seriously Considering a Pluto Orbiter"
description: "NASA just funded a study to determine the feasibility of a Pluto orbiter, which would provide a much closer look at the dwarf planet than New Horizons did."
date: "2019-11-05"
modified: "2019-11-05"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-pluto-orbiter"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Science & Energy"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "new horizons"
  - "Pluto"
  - "the digest"
  - "ultima thule"
---

# NASA Is Seriously Considering a Pluto Orbiter

![NASA just funded a study to determine the feasibility of a Pluto orbiter, which would provide a much closer look at the dwarf planet than New Horizons did.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/nasa-pluto-orbiter.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Visiting Pluto

In 2015, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft visited Pluto. However, it only managed to get a fleeting look at the unusual dwarf planet of ice and rock, and the spacecraft's limited size meant it couldn't carry the instruments needed to study Pluto very closely.

But soon, NASA might get a better look at the dwarf planet as it just [awarded funding](<https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/nasa-pluto-orbiter-mission/>) to the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to study how feasible and expensive it would be to send an orbiter all the way to Pluto and beyond.

## Return Trip

Scientists want to "send a single spacecraft to orbit Pluto for two Earth years before breaking away to visit at least one KBO and one other KBO dwarf planet," investigation lead Carly Howett from SwRI said in [a statement](<https://www.swri.org/press-release/pluto-orbiter-mission-decadal-survey-study>).

The plan is to send a larger payload than New Horizons to fill in the gaps in our understanding of Pluto. Scientists at SwRI have already been working on a system design that could take advantage of a new electric propulsion system to get there.

They have even mapped out a possible path that uses "gravity assists from Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, to escape Pluto's orbit and to go back into the Kuiper Belt," Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons and SwRI's newly proposed mission, said in the statement.

**READ MORE:** [NASA is considering whether to send an orbiter to Pluto](<https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/nasa-pluto-orbiter-mission/>) \[*Digital Trends*\]

**More on Pluto:** *[Pluto Is a Planet, Insists NASA Chief Jim Bridenstine](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/pluto-planet-nasa-jim-bridenstine>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)