"I think of this mission as delayed gratification. It took 12 years to sell it, and it will take nearly 12 years to get there," SwRI's Stern points out. But once on the scene, the spacecraft will make a Pluto-Charon flyby and then conduct up to three flybys of Kuiper Belt bodies. All that adds up to four flybys in about five years time.

"It's rapid-fire exploration of the Kuiper Belt. Roughly every 18 to 20 months we'll be running up on a Kuiper Belt object," Stern says.

There is a central lesson, Stern advises, from previous planetary exploration: Everyone should be ready for surprises. "We constantly find ourselves blown away by what spacecraft find. We were wrong about Mars…wrong about Venus…wrong about satellites of Jupiter…and we underestimated the moons Titan and Triton. Basically, everywhere we go, we find out that Earth and space observations offer very crude views of what the reality is," he says.

That name game regarding Pluto, Cheng adds, "is a problem of nomenclature, not of science."

"Some scientists feel that Pluto is so unique that it deserves a new name other than planet. There is no implication that Pluto is any the less interesting or important to planetary science. On the contrary, because it is so unique we simply have no alternative but to go there," Cheng suggests.

Diving deep into the Kuiper Belt -- with Pluto the largest known member of those celestial collectibles -- is sure to be a ballistic bonus.

The Kuiper Belt is both larger and more richly populated than the main belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, Cheng notes. "The first Kuiper Belt object was discovered only in 1992, and by now we realize that the Kuiper Belt is a fundamental component of the solar system. It is the source region for the short-period comets. It is populated by some of the best-preserved primitive objects that date to the beginning of the solar system. We have never visited a Kuiper Belt Object and hardly know what to expect."

Once off the ground, the lightweight probe would use giant Jupiter to slingshot its way onto Pluto. That flyby of Jupiter would also produce science, turning its instruments on to explore the Jovian system.

Moving onward to Pluto, the nuclear-powered New Horizons probe will start taking science measurements 150 days pre-encounter with the planet.

"We will beat Hubble resolution for months on the way using our narrow-angle camera. Images will be taken weekly, and then daily for months. "This is not a weekend at Pluto. This is a long-term study of Pluto and Charon at better and better and better resolution," Stern says.

The PKB mission team wants to reach Pluto before the planet's atmosphere freezes out. That is, since 1989, Pluto has been moving farther from the Sun. Each year, less and less heat makes it way to the world. The hope is to focus science gear on a thicker atmosphere. If Pluto's atmosphere does indeed freeze out, the craft can observe the seasons change on the planet.

Global maps of both Pluto and Charon are slated, with many thousands of images to be relayed back to Earth. The spacecraft should come as close as 6,000 miles (9,600 kilometers) from Pluto and about 17,000 miles (27,000 kilometers) from Charon.

Beyond Pluto and Charon, the New Horizons probe should have enough onboard fuel left to retarget itself to at least three Kuiper Belt Objects. These icy, dirty and rocky objects are believed to be the leftovers after the formation of the solar system's planets.

Which objects are to be surveyed will be done on the fly, Stern says.

It is estimated that 100,000 objects larger than around 30 miles (50 kilometers) across exist within the Kuiper Belt. "It'll be like skeet shooting," Stern envisions. "We're just going to go out and look along where our trajectory will be and find the objects."

An estimated 50 objects should be within range of the spacecraft's hydrazine-fueled thrusters. "We will pick the three that give us the most diversity…and offer the best science," Stern says.

"This is the third zone of the solar system. The inner rocky terrestrial planets and asteroid belt…the outer gas giants…and then there's the Kuiper Belt and Pluto. It's another whole country. It's going to be mind-blowing scientifically," Stern concludes.