Space probe

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Abandoned 1974 probe, Pioneer H, on display in the National Air and Space Museum

Diagram of extant Solar System missions (see Reference [1] for most recent version)

A space probe is a robotic spacecraft that does not orbit Earth, but instead, explores

further into outer space.[2] A space probe may approach the Moon; travel
through interplanetary space; flyby, orbit, or land on other planetary bodies; or
enter interstellar space.
The space agencies of the USSR (now Russia and Ukraine), the United States,
the European Union, Japan, China, India, and Israel have collectively launched probes
 to several planets and moons of the Solar System, as well as to a number
of asteroids and comets. Approximately 15 missions are currently operational. [3]
Further information: List of active Solar System probes

Contents

 1Interplanetary trajectories

 2Some notable probes

o 2.1Luna 9

o 2.2Luna 3

o 2.3Luna 16

o 2.4Lunokhod 1

o 2.5Mariner 10

o 2.6Venera 4

o 2.7Venera 7

o 2.8Mariner 9

o 2.9Mars 3

o 2.10Sojourner

o 2.11Spirit and  Opportunity

o 2.12Halley Armada

 2.12.1ICE

 2.12.2Vega

 2.12.3Sakigake

 2.12.4Suisei

 2.12.5Giotto

o 2.13Genesis

o 2.14Stardust
 o 2.15NEAR Shoemaker

o 2.16Hayabusa

o 2.17Rosetta

o 2.18Pioneer 10

o 2.19Pioneer 11

o 2.20Voyager 1

o 2.21Voyager 2

o 2.22Cassini–Huygens

o 2.23New Horizons

o 2.24Dawn

o 2.25Juno

o 2.26Chang'e 2

o 2.27Beyond the Solar System

 3Probe imagers

 4Gallery

 5See also

 6References

 7Sources

 8Further reading

 9External links

Interplanetary trajectories[edit]
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.[4]

Some notable probes[edit]



The Lunokhod 1 uncrewed rover on the surface of Moon, displayed in Memorial Museum of

Cosmonautics.
 

The Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars.

 
 

The Rosetta orbiter and Philae lander nearing comet 67P.

 

Voyager 2 in interplanetary space.

 
 

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

Luna 9[edit]
First man-made object to soft land on the Moon, or any other extra terrestrial surface. [5]
Luna 3[edit]
First mission to photograph the far side of the Moon, launched in 1959.
Luna 16[edit]
First robotic sample return probe from the Moon.
Lunokhod 1[edit]
First rover on Moon. It was sent to the Moon on November 10, 1970.
Mariner 10[edit]
First probe to Mercury.
Venera 4[edit]
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.[6]
Venera 7[edit]
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[edit]
Upon its arrival at Mars on November 13, 1971, Mariner 9 became the first space probe
to maintain orbit around another planet.[7]
The Huygens landing site on Titan

Mars 3[edit]
First soft landing on Mars (December 2, 1971[8]) The lander began transmitting to the
Mars 3 orbiter 90 seconds after landing. After 20 seconds, transmission stopped for
unknown reasons.[8]
Sojourner[edit]
First successful rover on Mars.[9]
Spirit and Opportunity[edit]
The Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars to explore the
Martian 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).[10][11] JPL continued to attempt to regain
contact until May 24, 2011, when NASA announced that efforts to communicate with the
unresponsive rover had ended.[12][13][14] Opportunity arrived at Endeavour crater on 9
August 2011, at a landmark called Spirit Point named after its rover twin, after traversing
13 miles (21 km) from Victoria crater, over a three-year period.[15] After a planet wide
dust storm in June 2018, the final communication was received on June 10, 2018,
and Opportunity was declared dead on February 13, 2019. The rover lasted for almost
fifteen years on Mars — although the rover was intended to last only three months. [16]
Halley Armada[edit]
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 NASA to JAXA).
ICE[edit]
Originally 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[edit]
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[edit]
This Japanese probe was the first non-US, non-Soviet interplanetary probe. [citation needed]
Suisei[edit]
A second Japanese probe, it made ultraviolet wavelength observations of the comet.
[clarification needed]

Giotto[edit]
The first space probe to penetrate a comet's coma and take close-up images of its
nucleus.
Genesis[edit]
First solar wind sample return probe from sun-earth L1.[17]
Stardust[edit]
First sample return probe from a comet tail.
NEAR Shoemaker[edit]
First probe to land on an asteroid.
Hayabusa[edit]
First sample return probe to launch from an asteroid.
Rosetta[edit]
The Rosetta space probe flew by two asteroids and made a rendezvous and
orbited comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014.[18]
Pioneer 10[edit]
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[edit]
First probe to fly by Saturn. (Communications were later lost due to power constraints
and vast distance.)
Voyager 1[edit]

Voyager 1's view of Solar System (artist's impression).[19]

Voyager 1 is a 733-kilogram probe launched September 5, 1977. 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. [20] As of September
12, 2013, Voyager 1 is about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from the Sun.[21]
On August 25, 2012, Voyager 1 became the first human made object to enter
interstellar space.[22] 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[edit]
Voyager 2 was launched by NASA on August 20, 1977. The probe's primary mission
was to visit the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, which it completed on October 2, 1989.
It is currently the only probe to have visited the ice giants. It is the fourth of five
spacecraft to have left the solar system. It has been operational for 41 years and 2
months as of October 20, 2018.
Cassini–Huygens[edit]
Cassini–Huygens was a 5,712-kg (12,593-lb) space probe designed to study gas
giant Saturn, along with its ringed system and moons. The NASA probe was launched
with ESA lander Huygens on October 1, 1997 from Cape Canaveral. The Cassini probe
entered Saturn orbit on July 1, 2004, and Huygens landed on Titan, Saturn's largest
moon, on January 14, 2005.[23] On September 15, 2017, the probe was de-orbited and
burned up in Saturn's atmosphere, after almost 20 years in space.
New Horizons[edit]
First probe to be launched to Pluto. Launched on January 19, 2006, it flew by the Pluto–
Charon system on July 14, 2015.[24]
Dawn[edit]
First spacecraft to visit and orbit a protoplanet (4 Vesta), entering orbit on July 16, 2011.
[25][26]
 Entered orbit around dwarf planet Ceres in early 2015. Currently orbiting Ceres as of
February 2017.
Juno[edit]
First probe to Jupiter without atomic batteries,[27] launched August 8, 2011.
Chang'e 2[edit]
Chang'e 2 was deployed to orbit the Moon, visit Sun–Earth L2 Lagrangian point, and
make a flyby of asteroid 4179 Toutatis.[citation needed]
Beyond the Solar System[edit]
Along with Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, and its sister space probe Voyager 2, Voyager 1 is
now an interstellar probe. Voyager 1 and 2 have both achieved solar escape velocity,
meaning that their trajectories will not return them to the Solar System. [28][29]

Probe imagers[edit]
Examples of space probe imaging telescope/cameras (focused on visible spectrum).

Aperture
Name Type Where When
cm (in.)

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter—HiRISE 50 cm (19.7″) R/C Mars orbit 2005

1996–
Mars Global Surveyor—MOC[30] 35 cm (13.8″) R/C Mars orbit
2006

Space (33+ AU from

New Horizons—LORRI[citation needed] 20.8 cm (8.2″) R/C 2006
Earth)
 Aperture
Name Type Where When
cm (in.)

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LROC-

19.5 cm (7.68″) Reflector Lunar orbit 2009
NAC[31]

2004–
Cassini—ISS-NAC[32] 19 cm (7.5″) Reflector Saturn orbit
2017

17.65 cm 1989–
Galileo – Solid State Imager[33] Reflector Jupiter
(6.95″) 2003

Catadioptri
Voyager 1/2, ISS-NAC[34] 17.6 cm (6.92″) Space 1977
c

Mariner 10 – TV Photo Experiment (x2) 1973–

[35]
15 cm (5.9″) Reflector Space
1975

1998–
Deep Space 1—MICAS[36] 10 cm ( 3.94″) Reflector Solar orbit
2001

Voyager 1/2, ISS-WAC[34] 6 cm (2.36″) Lens Space 1977

2004–
Cassini—ISS-WAC[32] 5.7 cm (2.2″) Lens Saturn orbit
2017

2004–
MESSENGER MDIS-WAC[37] 3 cm (1.18″) Lens Mercury orbit
2015

2004–
MESSENGER MDIS-NAC[38] 2.5 cm (0.98″) R/C Mercury orbit
2015

2007–
Dawn Framing Camera (FC1/FC2)[39] 2 cm (0.8″) Lens Asteroid belt
2018
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.[citation needed]

Gallery[edit]


Photograph of Voyager 1 / Voyager 2

 

Artist's concept of Pioneer 10 / Pioneer 11

 

Artist's concept of Pioneer 10 near Jupiter

 

Artist's concept of New Horizons approaching Pluto.

 
 

Artist's concept of New Horizons near Pluto.

 

Artist's concept of Cassini in Saturn's orbit

 

Artist's concept of Galileo encounter with Io

 

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

 

Artist depiction of Mars Global Surveyor

 
 

Titan4b on Launch pad

See also[edit]

 Spaceflight portal

 Space portal

 Interplanetary contamination
 Interstellar probe
 List of Solar System probes
 Mariner 10 1973–1975
 Orbit
 Pioneer 10 1972–2003
 Robotic spacecraft
 Space capsule
 Space exploration
 Uncrewed spacecraft
 U.S. space exploration history on U.S. stamps
 Viking program 1975–1982

References[edit]
1. ^ "What's Up in the Solar System diagram by Olaf Frohn".  The Planetary Society.
2. ^ "Space Probes".  National Geographic Education.  National Geographic Society. 2011-09-
30.
3. ^ "Planetary Exploration Timelines: A Look Ahead to 2016".  The Planetary Society.
4. ^ "E&S+". E&S+.
5. ^ "NASA – NSSDCA – Spacecraft – Details".
6. ^ "NASA – NSSDCA – Spacecraft – Details".
7. ^ http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past/mariner8-9.html
8. ^ Jump up to:a b Mars 3 Lander. NASA Space Science Data Coordination. NASA
9. ^ Sojourner (rover)
10. ^ September 30 – October 05, 2010 Spirit Remains Silent at Troy NASA. 2010-10-05.
11. ^ A.J.S. Rayl Mars Exploration Rovers Update Planetary Society 30 November 2010
 12. ^ Webster, Guy (25 May 2011). "NASA's Spirit Rover Completes Mission on Mars". NASA.
Retrieved 2011-10-12.
13. ^ "NASA Concludes Attempts to Contact Mars Rover Spirit". NASA. Retrieved 25 May2011.
14. ^ Chang, Kenneth (May 24, 2011). "NASA to Abandon Mars Spirit Rover". New York Times.
15. ^ NASA Mars Rover Arrives at New Site on Martian Surface Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 10
August 2011.
16. ^ Brown, Dwayne; Wendel, JoAnna (2019-02-13). "NASA's Record-Setting Opportunity Rover
Mission on Mars Comes to End". NASA. Retrieved  10 April 2019.
17. ^ "Genesis – Search for Origins". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
18. ^ ""Where Comets Emit Dust: Scientists Identify the Active Regions on the Surface of
Comets" – ScienceDaily (Apr. 29, 2010)". sciencedaily.com.
19. ^ "Voyager 1's view of Solar System (artist's impression)". www.spacetelescope.org.
Retrieved 12 January  2017.
20. ^ "NASA Voyager 1 Encounters New Region in Deep Space". NASA.
21. ^ JPL.NASA.GOV. "Voyager – The Interstellar Mission". nasa.gov.
22. ^ "NASA Spacecraft Embarks on Historic Journey Into Interstellar Space". NASA. 2015-05-
05.
23. ^ "Huygens Probe Separation and Coast Phase".
24. ^ Brown, Dwayne; Buckley, Michael; Stothoff, Maria (15 January 2015). "January 15, 2015
Release 15-011 – NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Begins First Stages of Pluto Encounter". NASA.
Retrieved 15 January  2015.
25. ^ "NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Hits Snag on Trip to 2 Asteroids". Space.com. August 15, 2012.
Retrieved August 27, 2012.
26. ^ "Dawn Gets Extra Time to Explore Vesta".  NASA. April 18, 2012. Retrieved April 24,2012.
27. ^ "NASA's Juno Mission to Jupiter to Be Farthest Solar-Powered Trip". Retrieved October
2, 2015.
28. ^ "Voyager-The Interstellar Mission: Fast Facts". Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Retrieved November 2,  2013.
29. ^ "Voyager-The Interstellar Mission". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved  November 2,2013.
30. ^ "Mars Global Surveyor". Archived from the original  on 2012-02-19.
31. ^ "eoportal – LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) – LROC". Archived from  the originalon
2012-03-16.
32. ^ Jump up to:a b "Cassini Solstice Mission: ISS".  Cassini Solstice Mission. Archived from the
original on 2015-01-14.
33. ^ "Basics of Space Flight Section II. Space Flight Projects".  nasa.gov.
34. ^ Jump up to:a b "Voyager".  astronautix.com.
35. ^ "NASA – NSSDCA – Experiment – Details".
36. ^ "Deep Space 1".  nasa.gov.
37. ^ "NASA – NSSDCA – Experiment – Details".
38. ^ "NASA PDS – MDIS". Archived from  the original on 2010-06-02.
39. ^ "Sierks, et al. – The Dawn Framing Camera: A Telescope En Route to the Asteroid Belt –
MPS/DLR/IDA".

Sources[edit]
 Deep Space: The NASA Mission Reports. edited by Robert Godwin (2005). ISBN 1-
894959-15-9
Further reading[edit]
 McNutt, et al. – Radioisotope Electric Propulsion (2006) – NASA Glenn Research
Center (includes Centaur orbit