Poll of the Week: Top Planet

By Jim Gerard, INSPIRE Education Specialist, KSC, FL

Here are the final results from last weeks poll:

Mercury   16   7.2%
Venus     34  15.2%
Mars      67  30.0%
Jupiter   37  16.6%
Saturn    42  18.8%
Pluto     27  12.1%  

As can be seen, Mars came in first, Saturn was second, followed closely by Jupiter and Venus. Interesting, as this closely correlates with NASA expenditures for missions to the Solar System.

Here is a list of current NASA planetary projects:

Mercury

MESSENGER

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/main/index.html

MarsMars Express

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/express/

Mars Odyssey

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/index.html

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/main/index.html

Saturn 

Cassini

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html

Pluto

New Horizons

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html

While Jupiter and Venus are not currently on the list, both planets have been visited multiple times in the past, including orbiters.

We do apologize for not linking to the Discussion Board with this poll, as it is great to hear your opinions.  We'll make sure this is available for every poll here on.

This weeks poll as how much risk you are willing to forgo to take a ride to space.  Make sure to save your response and then leave a comment in the Discussion Board!