Projects: International Lunar Decade
The Year in Pictures: 2007
Four Planetary Launches: Phoenix, Kaguya, Dawn, and Chang'e 1
Credit: NASA; JAXA; Carlton Bailie for ULA; Xinhua / Li Gang |
In the space of three months, four rockets blasted off with planetary spacecraft: Phoenix,
to Mars, on August 4; Kaguya,
to the Moon, on September 14; Dawn,
to Ceres and Vesta, on September 27; and Chang'e
1, to the Moon, on October 24. The four launches increased
by 25% the number of spacecraft beyond Earth exploring the non-solar stuff
in the solar system.
As of December 2007 there are twenty active planetary spacecraft. Five of
them are currently exploring Mars: Mars
Odyssey, Mars Express, Spirit,
Opportunity, and Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter, and a sixth, Phoenix,
is on the way. Voyager 1 and Voyager
2 are pushing the outer boundaries of the solar system, way beyond the
orbit of Pluto. Also far out are Cassini,
just reaching the midpoint of its currently planned exploration of the Saturn system, and New Horizons, on
its way to the Kuiper
belt. Looking inward, Venus
Express is watching the skies of our sister
planet, and MESSENGER is
on its way to map Mercury, including the hemisphere that's never been seen
up close. A crowd of spacecraft is studying the smaller bits of rocks,
ice, and dust that make up the solar system between the planets; Rosetta and Dawn are
on their way to comets and asteroids, Stardust and Deep
Impact are embarking on extended-life missions, Hayabusa is
struggling home, maybe with asteroid samples, and Genesis is
awaiting further orders. Finally, the just-launched Kaguya and
Chang'e 1 are ushering in a
new age of lunar exploration.
|
[ what is this? ]