Sure, but you left out some crucial parts:  &quot;Often we find that a good question is more important than a good answer&quot; - Richard Bellman.  IMHO pictures of Pluto do not answer good questions.<p>Commonly, one of the most important steps in good research is good problem selection.  IMHO, getting pictures of Pluto is not good problem selection.<p>Mars?  It&#x27;s closer in.  There we might get some clues to the formation of the solar system.  And we have a chance of setting up a base on Mars for astronomy or whatever.  Pluto?  As we have long known, it&#x27;s really &#x27;out there&#x27;.<p>Pluto?  Wild guess:  There is so little going on there, and it&#x27;s so darned cold, that maybe we could use it as a source of a <i>preserved</i> record of some of the major events in the galaxy over the past 5 billion years or so Pluto has been going around out there. For this guess, maybe look at the justification NASA gave for the Pluto effort.