Favorite Space Misson?

Not to sound all-to-nerdy, but what is everyone else's favorite current Space mission? Or Which one are you exited about?

While everyone else seems to either be watching Deep Impact or any of the Mars missions, the one I'm watching the most now is the Cassini-Huygens mission.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm exited to see the Dawn mission, because (and this is the part where i may be wrong) isn't it the first spacecraft using the new Ion Propulsion system?

It wont let me edit my above post. I didn't mean Deep Impact, I meant to type the Space Station. I have no idea why i typed Deep Impact...

Schmidt...

You can be that nerdy if you're a fan of the Steelers and "Da Pens". Go Stillers!

Anyway, back on topic...My favorite "almost" current mission is the Mars Phoenix Lander, which is scheduled to launch in August and reach Mars by May, 2008. the Phoenix Lander is just a lander -- not a rover -- but it will hopefully land near on of Mars' poles, on the boundary between the Icecaps and soil. Maybe it will land in a "slushy/muddy" area. Who knows. But in my opinion it will be very interesting.

It's so hard to choose just one.

Out of the current missions. I like to follow the two Mars rovers, those things just keep going and going. I also like to check the weekly MRO updates every Wednesday. The Cassini stuff is good too, especially when get new images of Titan.

A future mission that I hope happens, is the Neptune/Triton Orbiter. But if it does happen, it won't be till the 2030's sadly.

phoenix lander should be good.

but im into the exoplanet missions. CoRoT is the only space based one at the moment. Kepler, Darwin, SIM,TPF will all be amazing.

Currently my favourite missions are the Dawn mission, the Phoenix lander, New Horizons
and the Lunar return and outpost projects.


I like Dawn because we will be going to two of the major asteroids in the Solar System and
we will learn a great deal about them and the history of Sol. I'm also excited about it
because it could help with planning of a future base there.

I like Phoenix because it will continue Martian research and will help expand our current
knowledge of Mars, help plan for future manned presences there and it will be the first time
since the Viking landers that the method of landing it uses will be utilized.

I'm excited about New Horizons because it will greatly expand the small amount of knowledge
we have about the Plutonian system, as well as give us pictures of Pluto and its moons.
I'm also excited about it because it will be exploring the area beyond Pluto as well.

And finally I'm excited about the Lunar return and outpost missions because it will
be the first permanently manned presence on another stellar object, as well as help us
along to colonizing the Solar System and beyond.