"Uncertain Future Looms for NASA's New Horizons Mission"

NASA's New Horizons mission, which has provided groundbreaking data and images of Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, is facing an uncertain future due to budget cuts. The current plan is to replace the science staff with a new team in an effort to save $3 million, a move that has been criticized by the mission's principal investigator, Dr. Alan Stern. If funding is cut, the mission's focus would shift to low-level data gathering about heliophysics, rather than continuing its exploration of the Kuiper Belt. The mission has garnered support from prominent figures, and a petition has been created to urge NASA and Congress to maintain the mission's current capabilities.