I hate to be a stick in the mud, but will the knowledge gained by the New Horizons trip to Pluto and the Kuiper belt be of any practical use? Apparently it will shed further light on how our solar system came to be what it is. So what? Will this be anything more than hoard of useless knowledge? Will the precise explanation of how the Sun and its Planets condensed from a cloud of hydrogen help in our Earthly struggle? I think not. It was a great engineering achievement of course but the technology involved was not revolutionary. I hope this is the last of planetary “exploration” and that, in future, our cerebral resources can be steered toward the many problems on our home planet which are in urgent need of a solution.
Roger Sayer
Mukilteo
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