Going Full Nerd over NASA Projects

Ok, I have to admit something to you people. I can't hide it any more. I love space. I love learning about space so much.

My bookshelves are filled with multiple different books about astronomy, as is my Kindle. I constantly read science news articles and spy on what's happening with NASA, and I can't hold my excitement for the next two years.

Here in 2014, we're going to finally land something on a comet. The European Space Agency sent Rosetta, a comet orbiter with a little tiny probe that will drop down and latch on to the surface. Of course that's just the first of several exciting missions.

Then we have the Dawn spacecraft from NASA. This probe already gave us our first look at Vesta, and in early 2015 it will arrive at Ceres, making it the first probe to ever visit a dwarf planet. I should note that we recently discovered water vapor around Ceres, meaning that Dawn could be exploring a place with the potential for life.

Finally, shortly after that, we have New Horizons. This mission is going to Pluto. I think this is the mission I'm most excited about. My enthusiasm is probably rooted in the fact that Pluto was considered a planet when I was a kid. I remember knowing that Pluto was the only "planet" we didn't have any close up pictures of. The fact that we finally get to see this world excites me to no end. If all goes well in 2015, it will go from a dot in the night sky to a full fledged world in our imaginations.

All of these things are coming soon, and I personally am going to love reading about all the discoveries we make on these newly explored worlds.