Deep freeze: Technology to explore Jupiter's icy moons

For space scientists and other aficianados, there can be little doubt that 2014 was the year of the comet; the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) achievement in landing the Philae probe on comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko dominated headlines, even though the team still don’t know exactly where the lander is.

By the same token, 2015 is set to be the year of the dwarf planet. Two NASA probes are to greatly expand our knowledge of these enigmatic miniature worlds: the probe Dawn is preparing for its encounter with the largest of the asteroids, Ceres; while in the far distance, New Horizons has emerged from a long hibernation before a close encounter with Pluto. Neither body has been known as anything more than a smudgy image up until now, and solar system specialists are eagerly looking forward to being able to study more detail on these bodies and learn what they can tell us about the formation of our cosmic neighbourhood.