Well said...

"Against such odds, why do we even bother at all? Well, as members of a self-respecting space-faring species, how can we not try to do our best?"

So says Marc Rayman, project manager for the Deep Space 1 probe, which was tasked with one last mission recently: to pass through the cloud of dust and gas surrounding comet Borrelly, take pictures along the way, and beam them back to Earth.

Deep Space 1 was designed to prove a number of futuristic technologies, including autonomous navigation and ion propulsion, and has long ago done that since its launch in 1998. Since accomplishing its mission, the spacecraft has been kept operational by the ingenuity of the project's engineering team, and has attempted - and often was unable to perform - a number of extra tasks it was never designed to do.

The probe came through this past Saturday, apparently. Some of the 30 black-and-white images taken by Deep Space 1 are to be released tomorrow.

Cheers...