well, two missions in the last two days yielding results, and another to come in about 20 days. the e.s.a. beagle 2 woes notwithstanding, space has been exciting of late. it’s almost enough to fool the casual onlooker into thinking we are dedicated as a culture to space exploration and funding space research to the fullest. the effusive newscasts might almost lead them to believe we as a nation truly cared about space. not the case of course, but let’s be grateful for what we have been able to accomplish in an atmosphere of widespread apathy.

first off there is stardust, which managed the extremely difficult navigational feat of passing through the tail of a speeding comet 2 billion miles away. it gathered particles of the coma to bring back to earth, while simultaneously snapping the most detailed photos ever taken of a comet’s nucleus. to quote “Scientists believe in-depth terrestrial analysis of the samples will reveal much about comets and the earliest history of the solar system. Chemical and physical information locked within the cometary particles could be the record of the formation of the planets and the materials from which they were made.” stardust is expected to make it back home on january 15, 2006.

then of course there is spirit. every major news source has run the story today so you’re most likely already quite aware. it is the first successful mars mission since 1997’s pathfinder and is designed for geological testing, specifically to study the activity of surface water in mars’ distant past. minutes after touching down on mars’ surface the rover began snapping pictures, as more arrive they’ll be archived here. since the coverage will most likely disappear as of tomorrow here are some links offering more in depth information on the mission. the technical challenges and aims of the mission are explained in this movie which includes some nice cg animations. a step-by-step guide to the flight can be found here. complete mission coverage including lot’s of multimedia can be found here.

so until spirit’s sister rover, opportunity, lands at meridani planum on the 24th of this month, keep your fingers crossed. nothing brings funding like a perceived chance at political advantage, nothing hints at political advantage more than public opinion, and nothing shapes public opinion more than success and the resulting 24 hour barrage of news coverage. good luck automated space cadets.