The DES is designed to address the following:

• What are the relative proportions of KBOs in resonant, non-resonant, and scattered disk orbits?
  
  
• What is the spatial distribution of the KBOs?
  
  
• How can we increase understanding of circumstellar dust disks?
  
  
• What is the distribution of KBO orbital inclinations?
  
  
• In addition, the survey will provide a significantly larger sample of KBOs bright enough for their physical properties to be measured with existing giant telescopes.