What is Japan Up To?

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is in the process of retrieving asteroid samples. The Hayabusa spacecraft , launched in May 2003, intercepted the asteroid Itokawa, landed on its surface, collected approximately 1/10 of an ounce of material, and is now on the way back to Earth. Of course, that's the theory. JAXA is now wondering whether it actually obtained a sample, and also whether or not the craft will ever make it make to Earth. A fuel leak has jeopardized its timely return - originally set for June 1007. It is more likely to return in June 2010, if JAXA is lucky. The good news is that the spacecraft also carried a series of names to the asteroids surface - 877,490 to be exact - including the name Arthur C. Clark. Let's keep our fingers crossed for a safe return.

Note: JAXA also has other things underway, including building components of the International Space Station, space planes, and a mission to Venus.

More on Mars...

Now that the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is in orbit around the Red Planet (after a 7 month journey) we may learn more about our neighbor. The MRO will circle the planet for the next four years, collecting enough data to keep scientists busy for years to come. In addition to looking for water, the MRO will look at potential landing sites for future robotic, and possible human, explorers. The MRO is also one of many craft now circling Mars - the Mars Global Surveyor (NASA), Mars Odyssey (NASA) and Mars Express (ESA) are also scanning the planet's surface. In addition, NASA still has two rovers on the surface poking around. Things are getting crowded.

What 's Next with Atlantis on its Way Out?

With NASA announcing the retirement of the Atlantis shuttle by 2008, one wonders where our space program is going next. Sadly, we are down to three shuttles, and now Atlantis will be cannibalized for parts. Of course, Atlantis has been in use for more than 20 years, but I have not seen a lot of press on the replacements. The President spoke of traveling to Mars, and yet we cannot even maintain the rickety crafts that transports people and materiel to local satellites and the space station. Maybe we need to get the private companies into the act even sooner. This is not a new idea - read this USAToday editorial by Robert Zimmerman, an award-winning space historian.

Saturn or Bust

It seems that NASA's Cassini spacecraft, a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, may have found evidence of liquid water reservoirs on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The water erupts from the moon's surface in large geysers. We know of other moons with water, including Jupiter's Europa with its internal seas, and even our Moon with water reserves deep down near its poles. However, it is still an interesting set of circumstances since we know that water is essential to life as we know it. Maybe we are not such oddballs after all. Click here for more.