Portal:Robotics/Featured article/12

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A robotic spacecraft is a spacecraft with no humans on board, that is usually under telerobotic control. A robotic spacecraft that leaves Earth's orbit is often called a space probe. Many space missions are more suited to telerobotic rather than crewed operation, due to lower cost and lower risk factors. Outer planets such as Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are too distant to reach with current crewed spaceflight technology, so telerobotic probes are the only way to explore them. Many artificial satellites are robotic spacecraft.

Robotic spacecraft use telemetry to radio back to Earth acquired data and vehicle status information. Command systems were developed to allow remote control from the ground. Increased autonomy is important for distant probes where the light travel time prevents rapid decision and control from Earth. Newer probes such as Cassini-Huygens and the Mars Exploration Rovers are highly autonomous and use on-board computers to operate independently for extended periods of time.