Imagine a craft that could enter pluto s atmosphere at 14 KM/s and deliver a 200 KG lander to the surface using aerodynamic drag and just a few KG of propellant

Pluto s surface pressure is just 10 millionths of earth s but its atmosphere is about 7 times higher than earth s and its volume is about 350 times the volume of pluto itself. Over a several hundred kilometer entry distance this ultra-low ballistic coefficient craft can dissipate over 99.999% of its initial kinetic energy resulting in a terminal velocity comparable to or less than past planetary landers or rovers. With this architecture the total propellant requirement for landing on pluto is less than 3.5 KG! After making science measurements at its initial landing site the lander switches to hopper mode taking advantage of the low gravitational acceleration (0.063 GEE) and a modest propellant store to literally HOP skip and jump around the surface sometimes kilometers at a time investigating features of interest. The proposed concept would enable in-situ surface science at pluto with low overall mass a reasonable cost and in a timeframe of about 10-15 years.