[vhffm]

I'd like to point out that space is an extremely large and harsh environment. The three main issues:

1) Distances are huge. Light needs ~5 hours to travel from Pluto to Earth. This means high-gain (=large), directional antennas, and low data-rates to make sure you actually receive the same data that the craft transmits to you (and vice versa).

2) Electronics need to be shielded from radiation and cosmic rays. On Earth, the atmosphere does a this for us (and we still get hit by cosmic rays, leading to things like randomly flipped bits). If you have a space-craft that cannot be directly controlled from Earth (because, 5 hours one-way communication time), you need it to be somewhat autonomous. Random bit-flips can spell disaster, so you need to either bring a ton of shielding, redundant (and well-tested, aka "outdated") systems, or both.

3) All these things add mass to your vehicle. Mass is the single largest cost driver in launch operations.

In summary, space is difficult and expensive to get to and operate in. This costs money. Money is finite, especially in a world where many people would like to see space exploration funding cut because it provides no immediate tangible return.