Hi Duh -
The prdominant assumption for some time has been that Pluto is a typical TNO, but we'll see if that is true. The talk was of stripping Pluto of its planetary status. It may be that Pluto differs from other objects at this range in fundamntal ways. we'll see.
More importantly, gaining some idea of the density of the flux of Kuiper Belt objects and their distribution should allow the hypothesis of a nearby large gravitational attractor to be answered definitively one way or the other. It is likely to lead to a further refinement of the impact hazard.
Finallly, the questions raised by the Pioneer anomaly should be illuminated, whether gravity is different than understood, or whether some other process is involved.
No, I hadn't seen any description of this project earlier. I really have a lot of other things to look at. It certainly is more than a Pluto probe, which is the way it was described.
Its a big world, and there are other space programs besides that of NASA. All of them could change in an instant.
Have a nice day, Duh
Space/Science » in reply to Duh
we'll see