YSS

Last week NASA announced that 2011 is THE YEAR OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM (YSS). I still don't know what this means exactly, but it really captured the imagination -- from what I can tell here is the list that comprises YSS:

"During YSS, we'll see triple the [usual] number of launches, flybys and orbital insertions," says Jim Green, Director of Planetary Science at NASA headquarters. "There hasn't been anything quite like it in the history of the Space Age."

Green continues: ""History will remember the period Oct. 2010 through Aug. 2012 as a golden age of planetary exploration... The second half of 2011 will be as busy as some entire decades of the Space Age."

1. Astrobiology: O/OREOS, a shoebox-sized satellite designed to test the durability of life in space. Short for "Organism/ORganic Exposure to Orbital Stresses" will be launched this November.

2. Dawn Mission: Dawn spacecraft w”ill investigate two of the largest proto-planets in the main asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres. The mission's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch by investigating in detail two of the largest protoplanets remaining intact since their formation. Ceres and Vesta have many contrasting characteristics that are thought to have resulted from them forming in two different regions of the early solar system.”

"For a full month Dawn will be able to see Vesta even more clearly than Hubble can," marvels Green. "The only way to top that would be to go into orbit." ( Dawn's next target is dwarf planet Ceres, nearly spherical, rich in water ice, and totally unexplored.)"

Other exploration/spacecraft -

Launch of the Juno spacecraft to Jupiter (August) the launch of GRAIL to map the gravitational field of the Moon (September), and the launch of a roving science lab named "Curiosity" to Mars (November).

3. Martian Year: A new chapter begins in the exploration of Mars:

Curiosity lands on Mars. “The roving nuclear-powered science lab will take off across the red sands sniffing the air for methane (a possible sign of life) and sampling rocks and soil for organic molecules. Curiosity's advanced sensors and unprecedented mobility are expected to open a new chapter in exploration of the Red Planet.”

While I'm waiting for updates from these explorations, these old galaxy photos will have to satisfy the craving for new NASA images: