New Reliance deep-space probe to Plock launches

Year 18, Day 238

KSA just launched the deepest deep-space probe to have ever been conceived by Kerbalkind. It'll take extremely long to reach its destination, likely over a decade, maybe two. This is the New Reliance probe, going to the dwarf planet Plock.

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KSA decided to make and launch this probe because they were tired of looking at terrible and grainy KST (Kerman Space Telescope) images from afar, and wanted to look at Plock up close for the first time ever, getting a clearer view of the dwarf planet and its moon, Karen. The KSA said in a statement:

"Yes, we made this probe so we could see Plock up close. But that still doesn't make this a 'because we wanted to' kind of mission. We will also collect valuable scientific data from the outer reaches of the solar system, potentially making us more ready for when we go interstellar in the far future."

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We have no exact clue when the probe will arrive at Plock, but it will likely be about 16-18 years until arrival.

Speaking of arrival, New Reliance will not be an orbiter; it has no thrusters anyway. It was set on a course by its propulsion stage and is riding that course now. This means it will simply do a flyby of Plock, zipping past it and Karen in hours once it gets there. This also means it has a very limited time to collect what data it needs to collect, take pictures, and send it all back to Kerbin.

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Either way though, New Reliance will continue its journey now for a while, but once it gets there around Year 34-36, scientists will likely rejoice at the data. But until then, all we can do is wait.