Art Martin said:

"tell you the truth, for some reason those outer planets seem a real waste of resources to go out and explore right now.... I'm pretty much convinced anything out past there is pretty much just a tourist destination and will provide little in the science of how our solar system was created."

If Neptune didn't have any moons then it would be easy to argue that the money was better spent doing further investigations of Jupiter. However Triton orbits Neptune and Triton is extremely interesting. Triton is the most accessible Kuiper belt object in the Solar System. It is believed that Pluto and Charon are also Kuiper belt objects. It's arguable that Pluto, Charon and Triton all came from the same parent body. The original body flew by Neptune, fragmented to dump Triton in Neptune's orbit while the rest of it flew off to form Pluto and Charon. Kuiper belt objects might have formed from the matter surrounding the Sun prior to its achieving nuclear ignition. Supposably the Sun blew off its outer layer after it lit up. In essence, Kuiper belt objects allow us to investigate the infant Sun. Also, Triton has a very tenuous nitrogen atmosphere and may have hydrocarbons on its surface (a little bit like Titan). The best way to get to Triton maybe to perform an aerocapture maneuver off of Neptune's atmosphere.

Gary