Space probe

A planned 1974 probe, Pioneer H, on display in a museum.

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Some fifteen space probes are operational as of February 2016.

A space probe is a robotic spacecraft that leaves Earth orbit and explores space. It may approach the Moon; enter interplanetary space; flyby, orbit, or land on other planetary bodies; or approach interstellar space.

See List of active Solar System probes for a list of active probes; the space agencies of the USSR (now Russia and Ukraine), the United States, the European Union, Japan, China and India have in the aggregate launched probes to several planets and moons of the Solar System as well as to a number of asteroids and comets. Approximately fifteen missions are currently operational.

Interplanetary trajectories

Once a probe has left the vicinity of Earth, its trajectory will likely take it along an orbit around the Sun similar to the Earth's orbit. To reach another planet, the simplest practical method is a Hohmann transfer orbit. More complex techniques, such as gravitational slingshots, can be more fuel-efficient, though they may require the probe to spend more time in transit. Some high Delta-V missions (such as those with high inclination changes) can only be performed, within the limits of modern propulsion, using gravitational slingshots. A technique using very little propulsion, but requiring a considerable amount of time, is to follow a trajectory on the Interplanetary Transport Network.

Some notable probes

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  The Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars.

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  The Rosetta orbiter and Philae lander nearing comet 67P.

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  Voyager 2 in interplanetary space.

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  Artist's concept of Deep Impact prior to its planned collision with comet Tempel 1.

Luna 9

First man-made object to soft land on the Moon, or any other extra terrestrial surface.

Luna 3

First mission to photograph the far side of the Moon, launched in 1959.

Luna 16

First robotic sample return probe from the Moon.

Lunokhod 1

First rover on Moon. It was sent to the Moon on November 10, 1970.

Mariner 10

First probe to Mercury.

Venera 4

First successful in-place analysis of another planet. It may have also been the first space probe to impact the surface of another planet, although it is unclear whether it reached Venus' surface.

Venera 7

The Venera 7 probe was the first spacecraft to successfully soft land on another planet (Venus) and to transmit data from there back to Earth.

Mariner 9

Upon its arrival at Mars on November 13, 1971, Mariner 9 became the first space probe to maintain orbit around another planet.

The Huygens landing site on Titan

Mars 3

First soft landing on Mars (between 1960 and 1973). Although, the spacecraft failed shortly after landing.

Sojourner

First successful rover on Mars.

Spirit and Opportunity

The Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity surface and geology, and searched for clues to past water activity on Mars. They were each launched in 2003 and landed in 2004. Communication with Spirit stopped on sol 2210 (March 22, 2010). JPL continued to attempt to regain contact until May 24, 2011, when NASA announced that efforts to communicate with the unresponsive rover had ended. Opportunity arrived at Endeavour crater on 9 August 2011, at a landmark called Spirit Point named after its rover twin, after traversing 13 miles from Victoria crater, over a three-year period. As of January 26, 2016, Opportunity has lasted for more than twelve years on Mars — although the rovers were intended to last only three months.

Halley Armada

The first dedicated missions to a comet; in this case, to Halley's Comet during its 1985–86 journey through the inner Solar System. It was also the first massive international coordination of space probes on an interplanetary mission, with probes specifically launched by the Soviet (now Russian) Space Agency, European Space Agency, and Japan's ISAS (now integrated with NASDA to JAXA).

ICE

Original a solar observatory in the International Sun-Earth Explorer series, it was sent into solar orbit to make the first close observations of a comet, Comet Giacobini-Zinner, in 1985 as a prelude to studies of Halley's Comet.

Vega

Two Russian/French spacecraft. They dropped landers and balloons (first weather balloons deployed on another planet) at Venus before their rendezvous with Halley's Comet.

Sakigake

This Japanese probe was the first non-US, non-Soviet interplanetary probe.

Suisei

A second Japanese probe, it made ultraviolet wavelength observations of the comet.

Giotto

The first space probe to penetrate a comet's coma and take close-up images of its nucleus.

Genesis

First solar wind sample return probe from sun-earth L1.

Stardust

First sample return probe from a comet tail.

NEAR Shoemaker

First probe to land on an asteroid.

Hayabusa

First sample return probe to launch from an asteroid.

Rosetta

The Rosetta space probe has flown by two asteroids and is aiming to rendezvous and explore comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It rendezvoused with the comet in November 2014.

Pioneer 10

First probe to Jupiter. Radio communications were lost with Pioneer 10 on January 23, 2003, because of the loss of electric power for its radio transmitter, with the probe at a distance of 12 billion kilometers (80 AU) from Earth.

Pioneer 11

First probe to fly by two planets and first probe to Saturn. (Communications were lost due to power constraints and vast distance.)

Voyager 1

Voyager 1 is a 733-kilogram probe launched September 5, 1977. It is currently still operational, making it the longest-lasting mission of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It visited Jupiter and Saturn and was the first probe to provide detailed images of the moons of these planets.

Voyager 1 is the farthest human-made object from Earth, traveling away from both the Earth and the Sun at a relatively faster speed than any other probe. As of September 12, 2013, Voyager 1 is about 12 billion miles from the Sun.

On August 25, 2012, Voyager 1 became the first human made object to enter interstellar space. Voyager 1 has not had a functioning plasma sensor since 1980, but a solar flare in 2012 allowed scientists from NASA to measure vibrations of the plasma surrounding the craft. The vibrations allowed scientists to measure the plasma to be much denser than measurements taken in the far layers of our heliosphere, thus concluding the craft had broken beyond the heliopause.

Voyager 2

Voyager 2 was the first probe to complete the Planetary Grand Tour of the gas giants, and the first probe to visit Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 2 is the second-farthest human-made object from Earth, next to Voyager 1 at a distance of 101.2 AU as of July 11, 2013.

Cassini-Huygens

Probe sent to orbit Saturn. Significantly expanded our knowledge of the ringed system. Detached a lander to land on Titan on January 14, 2005.

New Horizons

First probe to be launched to Pluto. Launched on 19 January 2006, it flew by the Pluto–Charon system on 14 July 2015.

Dawn

First spacecraft to visit and orbit a protoplanet (4 Vesta), entering orbit on July 16, 2011. Entered orbit around dwarf planet Ceres in early 2015. Currently orbiting Ceres as of April 2015.

Juno

First probe to Jupiter without atomic battery, launched August 8, 2011.

Chang'e 2

First probe to orbit the Moon, visit Sun-Earth L2 Langrangian point and make a flyby of asteroid 4179 Toutatis.

Beyond the Solar System

Along with Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, and its sister space probe Voyager 2, Voyager 1 is now an interstellar probe. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have both achieved solar escape velocity, meaning that their trajectories will not return them to the Solar System.

Probe imagers

Examples of space probe imaging telescope/cameras (focused on visible spectrum).

Name	Aperture cm (in.)	Type	Where	When
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter—HiRISE	50 cm (19.7″)	R/C	Mars orbit	2005
Mars Global Surveyor—MOC	35 cm (13.8″)	R/C	Mars orbit	1996–2006
New Horizons—LORRI	20.8 cm (8.2″)	R/C	Space (33+ AU from Earth)	2006
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LROC-NAC	19.5 cm (7.68″)	Reflector	Lunar orbit	2009
Cassini—ISS-NAC	19 cm (7.5″)	Reflector	Saturn orbit	2004
Galileo - Solid State Imager	17.65 cm (6.95″)	Reflector	Jupiter	1989-2003
Voyager 1/2, ISS-NAC	17.6 cm (6.92″)	Catadioptric	Space	1977
Mariner 10 - TV Photo Experiment (x2)	15 cm (5.9″)	Reflector	Space	1973-1975
Deep Space 1—MICAS	10 cm ( 3.94″)	Reflector	Solar orbit	1998-2001
Voyager 1/2, ISS-WAC	6 cm (2.36″)	Lens	Space	1977
Cassini—ISS-WAC	5.7 cm (2.2″)	Lens	Saturn orbit	2004
MESSENGER MDIS-WAC	3 cm (1.18″)	Lens	Mercury orbit	2004
MESSENGER MDIS-NAC	2.5 cm (0.98″)	R/C	Mercury orbit	2004
Dawn Framing Camera (FC1/FC2)	2 cm (0.8″)	Lens	Asteroid belt	2007

Image forming systems on space probes typically have a multitude of specifications, but aperture can be useful because it constrains the best diffraction limit and light gathering area.

Gallery

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  Photograph of Voyager 1 / Voyager 2

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  Artist's concept of Pioneer 10 / Pioneer 11

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  Artist's concept of Pioneer 10 near Jupiter

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  Artist's concept of New Horizons approaching Pluto.

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  Artist's concept of New horizons near Pluto.

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  Artist's concept of Cassini in Saturn's Orbit

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  Artist's concept of Galileo encounter with Io

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  Artist depiction of Stardust during the 'burn-to-depletion' phase

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  Artist depiction of Mars Global Surveyor

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  Titan4b on Launch pad

See also

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Sources

• Deep Space: The NASA Mission Reports. edited by Robert Godwin (2005). ISBN 1-894959-15-9

Further reading

• McNutt, et al. - Radioisotope Electric Propulsion (2006) - NASA Glenn Research Center (includes Centaur orbiter mission)
• Scott W. Benson - Solar Power for Outer Planets Study (2007) - NASA Glenn Research Center

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• JPL - What Is a Space Probe? (2010)