Space probe

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.

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)

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

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.[4]

Some notable probes

Luna 9

First man-made object to soft land on the Moon, or any other extra terrestrial surface.[5]

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.[6] Launched in 1967.

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.[7]

The Huygens landing site on Titan

Mars 3

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

First successful rover on Mars.[9]

Spirit and Opportunity

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

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

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

Two Russian/French spacecraft, Vega 1 and Vega 2, 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.[17]

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 flew by two asteroids and made a rendezvous and orbited comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014.[18]

Pioneer 10

Launched 1972. 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 Saturn. (Communications were later lost due to power constraints and vast distance.)

Voyager 1
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

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

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

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

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

First probe to Jupiter without atomic batteries,[27] launched August 8, 2011.

Chang'e 2

Chang'e 2 was deployed to orbit the Moon, visit Sun–Earth L2 Lagrangian 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 2 have both achieved solar escape velocity, meaning that their trajectories will not return them to the Solar System.[28][29]

Probe imagers

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

NameAperture
cm (in.)		TypeWhereWhen
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter—HiRISE50 cm (19.7″)R/CMars orbit2005
Mars Global Surveyor—MOC[30]35 cm (13.8″)R/CMars orbit1996–2006
New Horizons—LORRI20.8 cm (8.2″)R/CSpace (33+ AU from Earth)2006
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LROC-NAC[31]19.5 cm (7.68″)ReflectorLunar orbit2009
Cassini—ISS-NAC[32]19 cm (7.5″)ReflectorSaturn orbit2004–2017
Galileo – Solid State Imager[33]17.65 cm (6.95″)ReflectorJupiter1989–2003
Voyager 1/2, ISS-NAC[34]17.6 cm (6.92″)CatadioptricSpace1977
Mariner 10 – TV Photo Experiment (x2)[35]15 cm (5.9″)ReflectorSpace1973–1975
Deep Space 1—MICAS[36]10 cm ( 3.94″)ReflectorSolar orbit1998–2001
Voyager 1/2, ISS-WAC[34]6 cm (2.36″)LensSpace1977
Cassini—ISS-WAC[32]5.7 cm (2.2″)LensSaturn orbit2004–2017
MESSENGER MDIS-WAC[37]3 cm (1.18″)LensMercury orbit2004–2015
MESSENGER MDIS-NAC[38]2.5 cm (0.98″)R/CMercury orbit2004–2015
Dawn Framing Camera (FC1/FC2)[39]2 cm (0.8″)LensAsteroid belt2007–2018

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.

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See also

References
  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. 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 May 2011.
  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 original on 2012-03-16.
  32. "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. "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
  • Deep Space: The NASA Mission Reports. edited by Robert Godwin (2005). ISBN 1-894959-15-9

Further reading
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