Overview
- NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told a Senate hearing he supports restoring Pluto’s planet status and said NASA is preparing papers to press the case.
- The specific papers were not identified, and Nature reported that NASA did not respond to requests for clarification.
- The International Astronomical Union’s 2006 rules require orbiting the Sun, a round shape, and a cleared orbit, and its leaders defend Pluto’s dwarf-planet status and say any change must follow set procedures.
- NASA’s 2015 New Horizons flyby revealed mountains, nitrogen plains, and signs of ongoing activity on Pluto, evidence cited by scientists who favor definitions based on a world’s own properties rather than its orbital environment.
- Public interest has resurfaced after a 10-year-old’s open letter asked NASA to “make Pluto a planet again,” drawing a reply from Isaacman that the agency is looking into it.