This spring is going to be a good time to be a space geek. There’s a lot going on in the world(s) of planetary exploration:

  • As I posted earlier, NASA’s New Horizons probe has launched to Pluto and its newly discovered moons. It’ll be a long time before it gets there though. Why do other planets have to be so far away?
  • NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers keep chugging along, over two years after they landed on Mars. Not bad for hardware that was designed for a 90-day mission.
  • The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is due to arrive at Mars in a couple weeks. If you haven’t heard of it, this probe will send back the highest resolution photos of the red planet to date, and should be able to pick out features as small as a desk. It’ll do a lot of other cool stuff too, check it out.
  • Not to be left out, the European Venus Express probe will arrive at Venus in early April. This probe is an almost identical twin to the Mars Express probe that’s been returning fantastic stereo pictures of Mars’ landforms for a couple years now.