Friday, August 12, 2005

Next Mars probe away

Read here and here.

I'd really like to see four probes per launch window: an orbiter, a pair of rovers, and an airplane. Then again, if I were in charge, we'd see a lot more space probes as well as manned activities.

Venus would get a mission every couple years (alternating between an orbiter, balloon, and lander).

The asteroids and comets would get a lot. Those probes are relatively cheap and can be reused for multiple encounters.

The outer planets would get a lot too. Frex, each of the gas giants could use a dedicated weather sat. The JIMO mission was a good idea. Europa would prolly get as extensive of a program as Mars is. So would Titan. Saturn would get something to go exploring the rings even closer than Cassini will. Enceladeus is looking more and more interesting.

The Kuipier Belt and Oort Cloud ought to be looked into as well.

Then again, I'm not the head of NASA and I don't control the purse strings, eh?


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