List of basic space exploration topics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space.[1] Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft.
The following list of topics is provided as an overview of and introduction to space exploration:
[edit] Essence of space exploration
- Main article: Space exploration
Space exploration is a high technology domain in which relatively few countries have made major investments. Near-term practical applications include communications, meteorology, Earth resources exploitation and assessment, search and rescue, and military intelligence gathering. Longer-term activities, often with a mixture of practical and cultural justifications, include such areas as scientific investigation, asteroidal impact hazard assessment and its mitigation, and microgravity materials science and biology research, both pure and applied. A further strong justification, somewhat speculative and often quite controversial, is human expansion into the space environment, for solar energy and space materials utilization, exploration, and eventual colonization and habitation.
Terms that describe space exploration include:
[edit] Branches of space exploration
Space exploration can be divided into two branches: manned and unmanned. Unmanned, or robotic, missions entail the use of untended satellites and probes for communications, various military purposes,space is big and observation, solar and heliospheric science, Solar System exploration, space-based astronomy, and so on. Manned missions include trained human personnel who go into space for various purposes such as constructing a space station, repair or upgrade of previously launched spacecraft (notably the HST), performing human-tended experiments as in micro-gravity or biology, and especially understanding the effects on humans of the space environment in preparation for future human exploration and possible habitation. In the past decade there have also been several fee-paying "space tourists", mostly accommodated on a space-available basis. While the utility of robotic missions seems established, the merit and value of human presence in space has been hotly debated and remains somewhat controversial in some quarters, though it does appear to have wide popular appeal.
[edit] History of space exploration
- Main articles: History of space exploration and Timeline of space exploration
[edit] Current space exploration
[edit] Space agencies
The best funded space agencies are:
Country | Agency | Budget |
---|---|---|
United States | NASA | $16 billion |
ESA (European Space Agency) | $4.260 billion | |
France | CNES (French space agency) | $2.49 billion |
Japan | JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) | $2.0 billion |
Russia | RKA (Russian Federal Space Agency) | $1.4 billion |
Germany | DLR (German Aerospace Center) | $1.242 billion |
Italy | ASI (Italian Space Agency) | $978 million |
India | ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) | $815 million |
China | CNSA (Chinese National Space Administration) | $500 million |
United Kingdom | BNSC (British National Space Centre) | $414 million [2] |
Canada | CSA (Canadian Space Agency) | $321 million |
Ukraine | NSAU (National Space Agency of Ukraine) | $250-300 million |
Belgium | Belgian science policy and space policy | $230 million |
Spain | CDTI (Spanish space agency | $175 million |
Netherlands | SRON (Netherlands Institute for Space Research) | $160 million |
South Korea | KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute) | $150 million |
Brazil | AEB (Brazilian Space Agency) | $120 million |
Switzerland | SSO (Swiss Space Office) | $110 million |
Sweden | SNSB (Swedish National Space Board) | $100 million |
[edit] Active space missions
- Mars Express, ESA satellite orbitting Mars
- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA
- Mars Exploration Rover, NASA
- MESSENGER, NASA probe to Mercury launched in 2004
- Hayabusa, JAXA unmanned space mission to asteroid
- New Horizons, probe to Pluto
- Rosetta, ESA mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
- Venus Express, ESA satellite orbitting Venus
[edit] Future of space exploration
Lunar (the Moon)
Sun
Mercury
Venus
Mars
Outer solar system
[edit] Basic space exploration concepts
[edit] Space exploration scholars
[edit] Leaders in space exploration
- Neil Armstrong - first man to walk on the Moon.
- Yuri Gagarin - first man to orbit the Earth.
- John Glenn - oldest man in orbit.
[edit] Space exploration lists
- Main article: List of space exploration topics
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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- Space related news
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