page_title: Exploration of Pluto
section_title: Kuiper belt, Pluto Kuiper Express and cancellation
hierarchical_section_title: Exploration of Pluto / Early mission proposals / Kuiper belt, Pluto Kuiper Express and cancellation
caption_attribution_description: English: Artist's concept of Pluto Express (now called Pluto Kuiper Express).
context_page_description: The exploration of Pluto began with the arrival of the New Horizons probe in July 2015, though proposals for such a mission had been studied for many decades. There are no plans as yet for a follow-up mission, though follow-up concepts have been studied.
context_section_description: During the course of the late 1990s, a number of Trans-Neptunian objects were discovered, confirming the existence of a Kuiper belt. Interest in a mission to the Kuiper belt arose such that NASA instructed the JPL to re-purpose the mission as not only a Pluto flyby, but also a Kuiper belt object (KBO) flyby.  The mission was thus re-branded as the Pluto Kuiper Express, after briefly being billed as Pluto Express prior to the revision.  The weight of the spacecraft was raised again, this time to 175 kilograms, and NASA allowed further liberty with the project's budget. 
  However, Goldin later decided that Pluto Kuiper Express was of low importance, and thus cut funding to the project drastically.  Eventually, despite official selection of scientific instruments and the appointment of several investigators, then-Science Mission Directorate Edward J. Weiler ordered the cancellation of the entire Pluto and Kuiper belt mission in 2000, citing growing budget constraints, which had plagued the project since its inception in 1992. At the time of cancellation, the projected costs surpassed $1 billion.
caption: Concept art for the Pluto Kuiper Express; the last iteration of the original Pluto mission concepts, eventually cancelled in 2000.
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