"Jorge R. Frank" wrote in message ...

If you want to justify your Pluto mission as planetary defense,

I don't. That's one justifcation, not *the* justification.

No, it's a rationalization. Calling a junket to Pluto planetary
defense is like bombing Kosovo and calling it national defense.
Meanwhile, the real threats are ignored.

then you should submit it to a panel of planetary defense
specialists and
let them peer-review it,

No, I'd let them review the planetary defense *aspects* of the mission,
while other peer review panels (space science, etc) review the rest. The
*combined* score from the panels would determine the priority.

Naturally. The possibility of global extinction must be balanced
against the chance to publish a few obscure scientific papers. :-)