This could be very good for the new PKE:

[Such a system would presumably be very similar to the ion-drive module planned for the cancelled Deep Space-4 comet rendezvous mission, which would have carried four NSTAR-1 engines powered by a revolutionary new lightweight inflatable 12-kilowatt solar array. On that mission, only two of the engines would have been fired at a time (with the other two as backups) until the probe was 420 million km from the Sun, after which the array would produce only enough power to fire one engine out to 525 million km from the Sun before the module had to shut down completely.]

Then again, time and money can be stiffling:

[While, as was pointed out at the Meeting, much of the new technology needed for Deep Space 4 was developed before it was cancelled, this still makes it clear that a good deal more spending will be needed to develop a Pluto ion-drive module - perhaps $100 to $200 million. And, of course, while such a module would also be useful for other Solar System missions later, its development will also force a further delay in a Pluto probe's arrival at the planet, perhaps seriously reducing the probe's scientific value as one of Pluto's poles tilts more into permanent shadow and its atmosphere starts to freeze out onto the planet's surface.]

Ion assisted or Jupiter assisted... I hope it flyes soon too.

Marcia