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It's been decades since we first walked on the moon and since then we've landed exploratory probes on other planets, had other probes exit the solar system into deep space and even spent a year roaming around on the surface of Mars with some semi-autonomous vehicles.

And the fun has just begun!

Today saw the launch of NASA's Deep Impact probe on a mission that is something akin to shooting a flying bullet with another bullet.

My only worry is: what if Tempel 1 is not a comet at all but a carefully cloaked death-star? Won't they be more than a little peeved that some upstart race on a shiny blue planet has fired a honking great missile at them with the goal of blasting a hole the size of a sports stadium? :-)

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The most interesting aspect of current space missions however, is the imminent arrival of the Huygens probe on Titan.

In just a couple of days time, this probe will descend towards the surface of what's been called Saturn's most enigmatic moon and, with any luck, a myriad of questions will be answered.

If things go to plan, a raft of pictures and instrument readings will be relayed through the Cassini craft back to earth -- where most folks will probably be watching re-runs of Friends on TV2 rather than the news, thus won't even see them.

I'm sure there's a goodly number of those reading this column however, who will be trawling the NASA site (as I will) and marvelling over the fact that they're looking at images never seen by human eyes before.

And let's not forget that the Huygens probe is decade-old technology already so imagine the results the next interplanetary probe will produce.

Those who are interested in this kind of stuff really are spoilt for choice when it comes to online resources.

Naturally the NASA site is the most comprehensive information source, but other sites such as Space.com and even New Scientist or the tech-news section of many online news sites often carry a more easily digestible version of the stories.

It's when you realise just how far we "advanced apes" have gone in terms of exploring our near-space environment that it becomes apparent, we really are living in the 21st century.

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