List of probes by operational status
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For a list of probes categorized by destination, see List of Solar System probes.
This is a list of all probes which have escaped Earth orbit, as categorized by current operational status and mission progress. The list includes lunar probes, but does not include probes orbiting at Lagrangian points L1 or L2. Landing vehicles are not listed independently of their transport craft if the two vehicles failed to successfully detach. Probes intended to escape orbit but which failed to do so are also not included.
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[edit] Active Probes
This includes all craft which are still able to transmit usable data to Earth (whether or not they can receive commands). They are further grouped by mission status based on their primary mission. For example, though Voyager 1 is en route to the heliopause, it is listed as 'mission complete' because its primary task of studying Jupiter and Saturn has been accomplished. Once a probe has reached its first primary target, it is no longer listed as 'en route' whether or not further travel is involved.
[edit] En Route
- Rosetta, launched after several delays and mission changes, is currently on an intercept course with 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It will deploy a lander for further investigation after reaching the comet.
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- Launched: March 2, 2004 | Destination: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko | Arrival: May 2015 | Institution: ESA
- Lander Probe: Philae
- MESSENGER is to study Mercury, becoming only the second probe to do so. Technologically, it is far superior to its 1975 predecessor. Thus far passing Earth once and Venus twice, it will complete three Mercurian flybys by 2009.
- New Horizons was the fastest artificially-accelerated object and will be the fifth probe to leave the solar system. It will be the first spacecraft to study Pluto, ultimately destined for the Kuiper Belt.
- Dawn is on its way to the asteroid belt, where it will be placed in orbit first around the asteroid Vesta, and then around the dwarf planet Ceres.
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- Launched: September 27, 2007 | Destination: Vesta, then Ceres | Vesta arrival: September 2011 | Institution: NASA
[edit] Mission in Progress
- The Cassini orbiter began studying Saturn and its moons after passing Venus & Jupiter and deploying the Huygens landing probe to Titan. It is primarily investigating Saturn's rings, its magnetosphere, and the geologic compsition of its satellites; its mission will continue to at least 2008, likely longer.
- 2001 Mars Odyssey, a tribute to the classic novel and film, is one of three currently-active Mars satellites. It will continue its mission to map the surface of Mars until September 2008
- Hayabusa failed at two important mission tasks: its landing probe did not deploy correctly, and it was unable to collect ground samples. Nonetheless, it is believed that the probe managed to collect a sampling of the dust around the asteroid, and it is currently on a return course to Earth.
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- Launched: May 9, 2003 | Destination: 25143 Itokawa | Arrival: September, 2005 | Institution: JAXA
- Lander Probe: Minerva mini-lander [mission failed]
- Mars Express: Mars orbiter designed to study the planet's atmosphere and geology, search for sub-surface water, and deploy the Beagle lander. Mission now extended until May 2009.
- LANDER: Opportunity Rover landed on Meridiani Planum three weeks after its twin touched down on the opposite side of the planet. Expected to last 90 Martian days, it continues to function effectively after 1000.
- LANDER: Spirit Rover, like its twin robot, was designed primarily for geologic analysis on the Martian surface. It has exceeded its primary mission length thirteen times over.
- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is the second NASA satellite orbiting Mars. It is specifically designed to analyze the landforms, stratigraphy, minerals, and ice of the red planet, which will aid in selecting a landing site for future landers Phoenix and Mars Science Laboratory.
- Venus Express, modeled after the Mars Express, is currently undertaking its thousand-day mission to Venus. During this time, it will collect data on Venusian atmosphere and cloud conditions.
- Ulysses was sent to study the 'northern' and 'southern' polar regions of the sun. Gravity-assist from Jupiter hurled it over the lower extreme of our star; a second Jupiter loop sent it over the sun's upper reaches. Its mission has since been extended till 2008, shortly after which the probe will lose power.
- SELENE (Kaguya), a lunar orbiter and two small co-satellites, is designed to carry out mineralogical, geographical, magnetic field and gravitational observations.
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- Launched: October 24, 2007 | Destination: Moon | Arrival: November 5, 2007 | Institution: China
[edit] Mission Complete
[edit] New mission in progress
- Voyager 2 has not yet left the solar system, but will become one of only five probes to do so eventually. Its mission to study all four gas giants was one of NASA's most successful, yielding a wealth of new information. It is currently some 80.5 AUs from the sun, and will continue to operate until at least 2020. As with Voyager 1, scientists are now using Voyager 2 to learn what the solar system is like beyond the heliosphere.
- Voyager 1 is currently the furthest man-made object from Earth at more than 9.5 billion miles (0.0016 light years) from the sun, and it will not be overtaken by any other craft. It was originally tasked with investigating Jupiter and Saturn, and the moons of these planets. Its continuing data feed offers the first direct measurements of the heliosheath and may eventually provide data on the heliopause. Voyager 1 shall continue operating until at least 2020.
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- Launched: September 5, 1977 | Destination: Jupiter & Saturn | Arrival: January 1979 | Institution: NASA
- Mission Completion: November, 1980 | Current Trajectory: bound for heliopause
- Deep Impact was designed to study Comet Tempel 1 by impacting it with a high-speed projectile and photographing the results. This accomplished, a possible mission extension to Comet Hartley 2 is under consideration (target changed from Comet Boethin). The new mission is designated EPOXI.
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- Launched: January 12, 2005 | Destination: Tempel 1 | Arrival: July 4, 2005 | Institution: NASA
- Primary Mission Completion: July 5, 2005 | Current Trajectory: heliocentric orbit
- Stardust was designed to collect samples of comet coma and interstellar dust. After seven years in space, it rendezvoused with Earth in 2006, releasing a pod containing the samples. A mission extension is now underway, designated NExT, deploying the spacecraft to Tempel 1, the comet targeted by Deep Impact.
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- Launched: February 7, 1999 | Destination: Wild 2 | Arrival: January 2, 2004 | Institution: NASA
- Primary Mission Completion: January 15, 2006 |
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- (New mission) Destination: Tempel 1 | Arrival: February 14, 2011
[edit] No future missions projected
- Pioneer 6, launched in 1965, is the oldest functioning probe (if still operating). Contact was last attemped December 8, 2000 to celebrate its thirty-fifth anniversery, and the attempt was successful.[1] Like the three craft which superseded it, it took measurements of the solar wind, solar magnetic field and cosmic rays.
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- Launched: December 16, 1965 | Destination: heliocentric orbit | Institution: NASA
- Mission Completion: ? | Current Trajectory: heliocentric orbit
- Pioneer 7 was last contacted March 31, 1995; no attempt has been made since, and this probe may or may not be operational.
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- Launched: August 17, 1966 | Destination: heliocentric orbit | Institution: NASA
- Mission Completion: ? | Current Trajectory: heliocentric orbit
- Pioneer 8 was last contacted in August 22, 1996; no attempt has been made since, and this probe may or may not be operational.
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- Launched: November 8, 1967 | Destination: heliocentric orbit | Institution: NASA
- Mission Completion: ? | Current Trajectory: heliocentric orbit
- Giotto approached within 600 kilometers of Halley's Comet on its flyby mission, and survived some particulate impact on the inbound flight to capture scientific data and stunning images of the comet's nucleus. Its multicolor camera was subsequently destroyed, but the probe remained otherwise functional. Its mission completed, deactivation commands were transmitted on 15 March 1986. Awakened four years later on July 2, it studied the comet Grigg-Skjellerup as it approached within 200 kilometers eight days later, and was again deactivated on the 23rd.
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- Launched: July 2, 1985 | Destination: Comet Halley | Arrival: March 14, 1986 | Institution: ESA
- Mission Completion: March 14, 1986 | Current Trajectory: heliocentric orbit
- Genesis returned a capsule with a solar wind sample to Earth in 2004. The rest of the probe was put into a parking orbit near Earth's L2 point.
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- Launched: August 8, 2001 | Destination: complex orbit | Arrival: ? | Institution: NASA
- Mission Completion: 2004 | Current Trajectory: heliocentric orbit near Earth L2 point
[edit] Inactive Probes
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
This includes all craft which are no longer able to transmit usable data to Earth, whether or not they can receive commands, but which are otherwise intact. Many of the earliest probes fall under this category, including probes from the Soviet Luna, Mars, Venera, and Zond programs, as well as the American Lunar Orbiter, Mariner, Ranger, Surveyor, and Viking programs.
For a full historical list of inactive probes, see List of Solar System probes.
[edit] Recalled / Destroyed Probes
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
This includes all craft which no longer exist in extraterrestrial space. They may have permanently returned to Earth or Earth-orbit, or been physically destroyed.
[edit] Mission Incomplete
- Mars Climate Orbiter betrays its mission with its name. Along with it sister-probe, it was designed to study Martian weather and climate with a focus on water and carbon dioxide systems. Unfortunately, a programming error regarding metric versus imperial measurements caused the craft to enter too low an orbit, and it was destroyed by atmospheric stresses and friction.
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- Launched: December 11, 1998 | Destination: Mars | Arrival: September 23, 1999 | Institution: NASA
- Destroyed: September 23, 1999 | Location: Mars | Cause: programming error
[edit] Mission Complete
[edit] Returned to Earth
- [none]
[edit] Intentionally destroyed
- Pioneer Venus Orbiter, one of the earlier satellites to study venus, was equipped with seventeen types of instruments to investigate the Venusian surface and atmosphere. After circling the planet for thirteen years, it finally depleted its fuel supply and plummeted into the atmosphere.
- Magellan, tasked with observing Venus from orbit, created the first and currently the best images of the Venusian surface at near-photographic quality. Its radar provided the complete geographic map of craters, hills, and ridges still used today. It was vaporized through rapid descent into the atmosphere, though it is thought that some pieces may have survived the fall and impacted on the planet’s surface.
- Galileo was sent to investigate the Jovian system, particularly the ice-moon Europa. During its six-year journey, it conducted flybys of Venus and Earth and became the first probe to flyby an asteroid when it passed Gaspra and Ida. It also detected the first asteroid moon. Its mission completed, it was incinerated through rapid deorbit into Jupiter’s atmosphere to prevent potential contamination of Earth bacteria to alien worlds.
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- Launched: October 18, 1989 | Destination: Jupiter | Arrival: December 7, 1995 | Institution: NASA
- Destroyed: September 21, 2003 | Location: Jupiter
- Probe: Galileo probe (mission completed, destroyed)
[edit] References
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