Poor Pluto. Once known as the smallest and loneliest planet in our solar system, it was subsequently stripped of its planet status. And pictures of the tiny world always painted it as a grey, desolate wasteland. There is even a Facebook support group for the little fella.

Well not anymore. After four years of computers crunching away on Hubble data, a new image of the icy rock shows that it is much more dynamic -- and colorful -- than once thought. From the image it is evident that as Pluto rotates the color pattern on the surface also changes. At first scientists believed that this might have been a problem with the data. However, Pluto's companion, Charon, was also in the Hubble image and did not exhibit this behavior, so they concluded that this was indeed an actual effect.

Further study revealed white areas that have been determined to be an icy layer of methane and nitrogen. But scientists also noted the presence of the black and orange regions, thought to be caused by the ultraviolet radiation of the Sun breaking up the methane molecules. This is somewhat amazing given how distance Pluto is from the Sun.

Pluto may not have regained its planet status back (nor will it), but at least its hidden beauty has finally been revealed.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Buie/Southwest Research Institute

The Space Shuttle Endeavour left the launch pad early this morning and is now in orbit on its way to the International Space Station (ISS). This is the first shuttle flight of the year, and represents the beginning of the end for the aging shuttle fleet.

The focus of this mission is to deliver a module to the ISS that will increase the interior space and provide additional living quarters. While the crew will not arrive to the space station until Wednesday, they are busy testing equipment and preparing for the space walks that will be needed to install the new node and research facility.

Image Credit: NASA

Last week I noted that the Obama administration had cut the Constellation Program from the budget, effectively killing the proposed return mission to the Moon and future manned Mars missions. An ancillary effect being that we would not need to rely on our Russian counterparts to complete our obligations to the International Space Station. This news initially angered proponents of the space program, including myself, because of the administration's demolition of our manned space program.

However, once President Obama officially released the complete budget and vision for the future of our space program things began to come into focus. The Constellation Program was behind schedule and over budget. It may turn out to be that canceling the program is the best long term solution. However, this does mean that we will effectively outsourcing our manned space program for the next several years at least.

There is another side to the story however, one that I overlooked in my haste to criticize the extermination of the Constellation Program. The government is actually getting behind NASA and the space program. President Obama has committed $6 billion more to NASA's budget over the next five years than expected. The new focus is going to be on developing new technologies to advance our ability to do space research as well as lower future costs of space exploration. And, while the Constellation Program is dead, the future of manned space exploration is not.

The president is laying the ground work for what NASA calls "A bold new effort that invests in American ingenuity for developing more capable and innovative technologies for future space exploration". This exploration will also rely more heavily on private industry and other nations to develop new technology and take on some of the manufacturing burden for large scale projects. It may be slow going -- forget about the 2020 and 2030 time tables for landing men on other worlds -- but this new program promises to be better and more cost effective in the long run.

The International Space Station (ISS) will also see its life extended, at least through 2020. This will allow the ISS to reach its full potential.

So, I must admit, I may have been too quick to judge. After looking more deeply at the plan that has been laid out for NASA, I think we are heading in the right direction, it will just take some time to see it through to fruition. The new plan is immense and complex, and I will outline the details in a forthcoming article, but until then I just want to make clear that there is a future for the space program. And the details of that program are beginning to come sharply into focus. Stay tuned.

Image Credit: NASA

As part of the re-invisioning of NASA (more on this tomorrow), the work of the International Space Station will be extended through at least 2020. This will allow scientists to expand the experiments being conducted and, according to NASA, enable "this vital orbiting laboratory to reach its full potential."

Sounds good to me. Personally though, I was just psyched about this image that was released along with the announcement. Pretty spectacular, huh? Telll me what you think!

Image Credit: NASA