If there were to be romantic character in space travel, Voyager 1 would have to be the standout. The Voyagers were launched in 1977 (nearly fifty years ago) to study, closeup, Jupiter and Saturn, Saturn's rings and their larger moons. The scientists have got her communicating (apart from her own health data) and are hoping that the two voyagers will last another three years. America does not seem to get much credit for her amazing achievements in space exploration. Yes/no?
The US was seminal in space exploration and still is a very significant contributor. In terms of space traffic, I still think by far the largest contributor... It's just that Europe and China and other countries have caught up a little. Russia used to be very big and launched a moon mission late last year...but I won't go there.
I finally got meta AI to spit out the number of NASA specific missions in the last couple of years. Lol Here are the NASA missions from the last couple of years added up: 1. Artemis I 2. James Webb Space Telescope 3. Perseverance Mars Rover 4. Parker Solar Probe 5. Quesst 6. LOFTID 7. Artemis II There are 7 NASA missions in the list. Note that this is not an exhaustive list, and NASA has likely conducted other missions and projects in the last couple of years that are not included here.
In 1977 I thought we'd be on Mars by now. While I second the applause for NASA's accomplishments, I'm disappointed by our retreat from aggressive space exploration.
I understand space is complicated but I really thought by 2024 we'd have some kind of underwater probe in the sub surface oceans of Europa.
Don’t know if NASA has any trouble getting funding but spaceships are pretty expensive and some governments don’t seem to have the “go west young man” attitudes any more.
Most NASA scientists are pretty convinced there is an ocean underneath. They have detected water vapor. They believe its heated by gravitational forces of Jupiter.
