NASA scientists scramble to find an object in the Kuiper belt in time for visit

The headline is rather link-baity. There's nothing wrong with the spacecraft or its planned Pluto visit. The "crisis" is that we haven't found any Kuiper belt object feasible for the spacecraft to visit after Pluto, which was the plan for the mission, but a distant secondary objective after Pluto itself.

Technically Pluto is also in the Kuiper Belt. So scientists are scrambling to find "another" KBO for New Horizons probe to visit.

Pluto has a fascinating history - from being unknown to being deemed a planet to being demoted to a "dwarf planet". What else is waiting for us out there...

My favorite factoid about this mission is that Pluto was declassified as a planet while the mission was enroute. (It seems very unlikely to me that the mission would have secured funding if declassification happened earlier.) Not surprisingly, the PI strongly opposed the decision of the astronomical union.

Since Pluto is a Kuiper Belt Object (rather than a "planet" or the even sillier appellation "dwarf planet"), I take issue with the wording. However, it is an unusually large one, and it would be a shame not to be able to pick up another smaller (and presumably more representative) object while it's in the area; it's a rather rare opportunity after all.

NH would like to and has planned to encounter multiple additional KBOs in the "25 to 55 miles (40 to 90 kilometers) in diameter" range. This has always been in its extended mission. But Pluto is the main goal.

I suspect they'll find something; the Kuiper belt is quite large and NH will be in it for some years. Still, the sooner the better; hopefully the time-sensitive nature will get them some time on the Hubble.

Alternate headline: "New Horizons project management launches campaign to get observing time on Hubble"

Url changed from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pluto-bound-spacec..., which points to this.