What's up in the solar system in August 2011 - The Planetary Society Blog | The Planetary Society

August is supposed to be a lazy summer vacation month, but there's quite a lot going on in the solar system. Opportunity has left the Meridiani dunes behind and is now just a few hundred meters away from making 'landfall' at Cape York, part of the rim of Endeavour crater. It's been a long time since I've been this excited about the rovers -- it's really like Opportunity is getting to start a brand new mission at a new landing site. Meanwhile, Dawn is now in orbit at Vesta, sending back new images weekly as it spirals downward; once it reaches its survey orbit in a week or two it'll be returning data daily, from a new world of a type that we've never seen before. Also this month, Juno will launch toward Jupiter, while five other spacecraft get ready to ride rockets into space: the two GRAIL lunar orbiters in September, Phobos-Grunt and Yinghuo-1 in early November, and Curiosity in late November. And those are just the special events; MESSENGER, Venus Express, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Express, Cassini, and the Voyagers are actively sending back science data every day."

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