New Horizons spacecraft set to launch tomorrow on nine-year mission to Pluto
Depending on who you talk to this is either an extraordinary opportunity, “for science, for exploration, for all mankind “
or
the world’s most expensive ticking time-bomb… “24 pounds of plutonium perched atop 2.5-million pounds of thrust with a 1 in 350 chance of blowing up.”
UPDATE: Actually, there’s a really interesting article in this month’s Economist on the mission to Pluto and the Kuiper belt.