In case you have have missed it, China is now part of the big boys’ club with regards to space exploration. It first moon rover, Jade Rabbit, has landed smoothly:
China’s moon rover makes tracks | Science | theguardian.com.
To boldly go where no one [human at least!] has gone before
Star Trek
Interesting piece in the NYTimes: In a Breathtaking First, NASA Craft Exits the Solar System.
Space probes Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 were launch in the early 70’s with what would be nowadays called rudimentary technology. Yet they had extremely long, in fact 15 times longer than the expected minimum of 2 years(!), and productive life. These were truly amazing and well-design engineering pieces.
Yet even as the probes are out of touch with us, new science is being done as reported by Ars Technica.
Ruminating... 