Cool Stuff

Check out this interactive map of nearby stars:

Luna

Chandrayaan-1 has begun remote sensing of the moon, and has also landed a remote probe, although apparently the probe had a "hard landing" that "terminated it's functioning."  But, let's focus on the success, they DID land the probe on the moon!

NASA has also tested some more lunar rover designs, and more importantly two separate ISRU methods to extract oxygen from lunar material.  This is a really big deal, not only can lunar oxygen be used to breath, it also makes up the bulk of most rocket propellants.  Future missions to the moon might use lunar oxygen as propellant for a return trip.

Mars

Spirit has been caught in a dust storm which has drastically reduced the amount of solar power generated by its solar panels.  NASA has commanded the rover to take some severe power saving measures, including shutting down the heater to the thermal imager.  The thermal imager is susceptible to cold, so shutting down the heater may cause permanent damage to the imager.  As of last Friday, Spirit was low on power but still communicating with NASA.

Deep Space

ESA's Ulysses spacecraft is about to end it's 14 year mission to study the sun.  Its RTG power generator is beginning to wane, and soon it will lose the ability to operate.  Launched in 1990, Ulysses first traveled to Jupiter and used a gravitational assist to launch into an orbit which took it over the poles of the sun.  It has orbited the sun 3 times since then, it was originally designed for a 5 year mission.

Beyond

Amazing images of 2 extrasolar planetary systems were published last week.  A Jupiter size planet orbiting the star Fomalhaut, 25 light years away,

and an amazing 3 planet system around HR8799, some 140 light years away.