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The Age of Space Exploration

Posted by michael on from the klingon-target-practice dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Wired describes over ten different probes launched (and about to be launched) within the decade."

10 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. I, for one, would prefer... by turnstyle · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I, for one, would prefer more robotics and AI, and less "people in space" for the time being.

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    1. Re:I, for one, would prefer... by Channard · · Score: 3, Interesting
      I, for one, would prefer more robotics and AI, and less "people in space" for the time being.

      And I, for one, would prefer to see more the money spent - or some of it at least - on deep sea exploration. Perhaps we could compromise and have the depths probed by giant robot squid?

  2. Incomplete and out of date. by FTL · · Score: 5, Interesting
    To illustrate how quickly things can change in the field of planetary exploration, the details for the 'Messenger' probe to Mercury are already out of date. Liftoff has been postponed from May to July, and it will take a different route to get to Mercury. It won't get there until 2011.

    The list only includes NASA, ESA and JAXA. Completely missing are the upcoming probes from China and India . Oddly, Russia doesn't seem to have anything planned.

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    1. Re:Incomplete and out of date. by VanillaCoke420 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There's another Mercury probe too, BepiColombo. And I'm surprised we haven't heard more about the Japanese asteroid sample return mission in the mainstream media. It's more interesting than that.

  3. Here's hoping for JIMO by Mukaikubo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I really, really want to see a nuclear-powered orbiter studying the Jovian system for years on end...

  4. Space... by Paddyish · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Not to be corny, (too late, I know) but it seems that the bright periods in human history are often during the full-scale exploration of a new frontier.

    I certainly hope that, despite the article's point that manned exploration takes away from true exploration, eventually this trend of new probes leads to more of a human presence beyond the pale blue dot. I want my kids / descendants to look across a huge expanse of space back at their home and think how strange it must have been to be limited to a single planet.

  5. Probes certinally make more sense.....but by MrIrwin · · Score: 4, Interesting
    In the "race to space" NASA put all it's efforts into putting a man on the moon, whilst the russians (with more modest resources) launched higher risk unmanned spacecraft and probably learnt more.

    They did not get a man to the moon but they did get thier explorer there, learnt that there was nothing much to learn there, and left it to the US to go and play golf.

    Now the US and ESA are into probes, learning more at low cost, but not able to send anybody into space.

    Ironically the russians, whilst lagging behind NASA and ESA in probes, are now the only ones able to reliably transport people.

    There is a lot more collaboration nowdays of course, but I still think a lot more is needed to get the right contrast between men and probes. Perhaps different agencies should take up different specialities.

    We now have a constant shower of probes on mars.....but whenever they **may** have found something interesting we are told that only a **manned** mission can really confirm the facts.

    Dare I say that perhaps the quickest and cheapest way to get a man to mars would be to pay the russians to do it?

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    1. Re:Probes certinally make more sense.....but by MrIrwin · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I think the current state of the art is that the russians **do** have a mothballed but tested project that is up to manned lunar mission standards.

      They are also able to shuttle people back and forth between the ISS.

      NASA has managed to lose the plans to Saturn V, and has a space shuttle that is semi-retired long before a sccessor will be available.

      Meanwhile, back in Europe, they can launch lots of little payloads but have never been anywhere near manned mission like payload, and don't appear to have any interest in developing for manned missions.

      That's how I see it.....but I live in a country that has never made it's own spacerocket and has no national pride.

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      And if you thought that was boring you obviously havn't read my Journal ;-)

    2. Re:Probes certinally make more sense.....but by kirkjobsluder · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They did not get a man to the moon but they did get thier explorer there, learnt that there was nothing much to learn there, and left it to the US to go and play golf.

      I just got done reading The Big Splat by Dana Andrews. The book is a history of human knowledge about the moon with a focus on the impact theory of the moon's origins. It highlights the fact that we really did not know much about what the moon was made of, until the Apollo missions recovered geologic specimens. What we learned from Apollo was a necessary prerequisite for all of the planetary science that followed.

  6. No Europa missions ? by EpsCylonB · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was sure that I read something about NASA planning a probe to go and study europa but this list doesn't seem to mention it. Potentially this is one of the most interesting places in out solar system, it would be great to get some more infomation about it.

    Also it is nice to see a Venus mission, I personally think Venus is a much more interesting planet than mars. It would be cool for mars to attempt a venus rover despite the obvious challenges.