今夜看到这新闻让我想起不久前我才记录过的一个东西：100年前的这个时候，英国人、法国人、美国人，甚至日本人都在思考如何让人类飞起来，中国人又在思考什么呢？

2010-10-07，NASA在其官方网站头条新闻宣布：2010年10月到2012年8月一系列的活动将开启人类对太阳系探索的黄金时代(The Year of the Solar System, aka YSS)。

有下列事件：

• near the end of October 2010 with a visit to Comet Hartley 2. On Oct. 20th, Hartley 2 will have a close encounter with Earth; only 11 million miles away
• in November, NASA astrobiologists will launch O/OREOS, a shoebox-sized satellite designed to test the durability of life in space
• On December 7, 2010, Japan's Akatsuki (Venus Climate Orbiter) spacecraft grabs the spotlight when it enters orbit around Venus
• in 2011 as Stardust NExT encounters comet Tempel 1 (February 14), MESSENGER enters orbit around Mercury (March 18), and Dawn begins its approach to asteroid Vesta (May).
• 2012 opens with Mars rover Opportunity running the first-ever Martian marathon.
• Sometime in mid-2012, Opportunity will reach Endeavour's lip and look over the edge deeper into the heart of Mars than any previous robotic explorer
• Meanwhile, halfway across the solar system, Dawn will fire up its ion engines and prepare to leave Vesta. For the first time in space history,
• The Year of the Solar System concludes in August 2012 when Curiosity lands on Mars. The roving nuclear-powered science lab will take off across the red sands sniffing the air for methane (a possible sign of life) and sampling rocks and soil for organic molecules.

非常期待YSS给人类历史开启的新资料片。

via r/space