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fliptop [soylentnews.org] writes:

On May 11, the first spacecraft ever to visit Pluto [nasa.gov] will begin looking for tiny debris as it approaches the dwarf planet at 48,000 kph:

To minimize the risk of hitting debris from Charon or another, unknown moon, scientists will conduct seven 45-minute observation sessions between 11 May and 1 July. If they find a potential hazard, the team can change the spacecraft's course.

...The mission is almost certain to discover new moons in the process. The Hubble Space Telescope found two during its hazard searches before the Pluto mission: Kerberos, which measures 14-40 kilometres across, in 2011, and the smaller Styx in 2012.

If something dangerous is spotted, 4 July is the last chance to divert the spacecraft to one of three available alternate routes [nature.com].

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