Trying something a little different, to keep up with the whole “Web 2.0″ thing…

The above is a video from the HD camera aboard Japan’s Kaguya probe, which recently crashed into the Lunar surface. It’s not really new news; I just thought it was cool (and wanted to try out video embedding). If it doesn’t work in its embedded form, or you want to watch it in HD, you can view it on Youtube here.

No, I didn’t shoot that one. NASA’s New Horizons probe has just hurtled past Jupiter to pick up speed on its way out to visit Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. Because of the limitations of sending back tons of data from hundreds of millions of miles away, the probe has buffered up all of the pictures and data it collected and will be sending them back in the coming weeks. So that website will definitely be worth keeping an eye on in the near future. What they’ve showed so far bodes well for some pretty cool stuff to come.

It’s worth looking around that site anyway if for nothing other than the mind-bogglingness (is that a word?) of it all. The fact that the probe has made it to Jupiter in a bit more than a year, and is now traveling at nearly 50,000 mph after the gravity assist, but still won’t be reaching Pluto until 2015 is a humbling reminder of how big it is out there.

As I noted a couple of posts ago, there’s a lot going on in the world of space exploration:

• NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has successfully entered Mars orbit. Aside from launch, orbit insertion was probably the most risky part of the mission. Congratulations to the MRO team, and I can’t wait to see what new info the probe returns.
• Scientists have determined that the ice geysers at the south pole of Enceladus are indicative of liquid water underneath the surface, perhaps as shallow as tens of meters. This is huge news, since it’s the only known place other than Earth where there’s liquid water this close to the surface.
• Google has put up a version of their mapping service with maps of Mars instead of earth. Doesn’t seem to have driving directions, though.

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.

This Flash animation from the ESA simulating the Huygens probe’s landing on Titan is pretty darn cool. (Can you believe it’s been over a year ago?) If you click on the animation there’s a link to download an 80-some-odd megabyte MPEG at much higher resolution and quality. A lot of it seems to be filled in with educated speculation, but it’s cool nonetheless.

After a couple of days’ worth of delays, the New Horizons probe launched late yesterday afternoon and is now healthy and on its way to Pluto. It’s the fastest moving vehicle launched from Earth to date, and will cross the Moon’s orbit in just three days, but will still take almost ten years to reach Pluto. Mind-boggling.

Incidentally, my name is on the CD mounted on the probe. Look ma, I’m in outer space!

If all goes well, New Horizons, our first vehicle to visit Pluto, will launch tomorrow afternoon. If not, they have until the middle of February to launch, or they’ll miss the window to get a gravity assist from Jupiter and the trip will take up to five years longer. So let’s keep our fingers crossed…