hi im a novice in astronomy but i have just found out about the new mission due to lift of to pluto in january here is the link:
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/
i was wondering if anyone knew how they'll manage to get there, because voyager 1 and 2 were only able to reach uranus and neptune becuase of the additional speed gained by gravity assists round jupiter and saturn? they say here that its possible for them to go direct to pluto, even without an assist from jupiter. has technology improved to such an extent now that this is possible? and if so, will they be going back to visit uranus and neptune in the near future?