Spaced Out

I'm having trouble concentrating at the mo, so going through the archives at the Planetary Society Weblog proved rather difficult, but, naturally, highly rewarding.

• Spirit and Opportunity had barely bounced to a halt when many naysayers started claiming that the double-mission had ended in failure. In a just Universe these people would still be harping on loudly, saying, "I can't believe they're still running 2 years and 3 months after they landed! Did you know they were only expected to last 90 days?" but while those people remain silent, you can check up on their current status in this nice article.


• I'm trying desperately to come up with a dirty joke to go with the title How Uranus got its tilt, but I can't manage it. In any case, some bloke's come up with a mathematical model for how Uranus ended up on its side - and it doesn't involve any impacts - just gravitational chaos in the early solar system. There is some technical terminology in here, such as "Uranus and Neptune go nuts".


• Balloons on Titan. I don't think I need to say any more to get you to click that link, do I?


• Speaking of Titan, the ESA have released some spiffy videos showing a Huygens-eye view of descent into the dense organic clouds of everyone's favourite moon. You can find them here. They're both pretty massive, and, in a great testament to my self-loathing, I have decided to try and download the prettier, larger one on my dial-up connection. I'll try and remember to let you know how I do.

SEE YOU SPACE COWBOY...