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Planetary News: Asteroids and Comets (2010)

What's up in the solar system in January 2010

By Emily Lakdawalla
January 4, 2010

Click to enlarge > Atlantis Moves to the Launch Pad Silhouetted against the rising Sun, a crawler transporter carrying space shuttle Atlantis moves along the crawlerway from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A. Credit: NASA / Kim Shiflett

2010! Wow. Here we are. Where's my Moon base?

While we don't have Moon bases, we do have plenty of spacecraft. Before I get into my more detailed look at the activities of the 20-odd spacecraft wandering about the solar system, I thought I'd look ahead to 2010 more generally and see what the year has in store for us.

The thing that will probably be weighing most on people's minds this year is the fact that 2010 is planned to be the very last year of Space Shuttle flights, with five launches to the International Space Station. There will probably be much discussion about what will happen to the Shuttles after their last flights. Currently, Atlantis' last flight will be in May; Endeavour's last flight will be in July; and Discovery's last flight is planned for September. Of couse these dates are subject to change.

It's a relatively light year for solar system launches: there will be just three. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory goes up in February, JAXA's Venus orbiter Akatsuki in July and the second Chinese lunar orbiter in October. Sharing Akatsuki's launch vehicle will be IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun), something that The Planetary Society will be watching closely because, of course, we are just a little bit interested in solar sailing! Our own LightSail will be built and ready for launch this year as well.

I'm sure 2010 will contain its share of major announcements of discoveries from ongoing missions to all parts of the solar system. But, looking at the calendar, the big events that we can predict all seem to have to do with the solar system's smallest bodies. In June, we can look forward to Hayabusa's return of its sample capsule to Earth -- let's hope it contains at least a few tiny grains of material from asteroid Itokawa! In July, Rosetta will fly past asteroid 21 Lutetia, which should be quite interesting, as Lutetia will be the largest asteroid ever visited by a spacecraft (at roughly 100 kilometers in diameter, it's similar in size to Saturn's moon Epimetheus). And on November 4, Deep Impact will fly past comet 103P/Hartley 2.

So 2010 will be the year of the Asteroids and Comets, for sure. Now to check out what's going on right now with all the active solar system explorers...Read more on The Planetary Society's blog.