An artist's interpretation of the MESSENGER spacecraft at Mercury

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. In addition, some planetary destinations such as Venus or the vicinity of Jupiter are too hostile for human survival, given current technology. 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. Download high resolution version (1200x955, 57 KB)Mercury MESSENGER spacecraft -- public domain from NASA.gov File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (1200x955, 57 KB)Mercury MESSENGER spacecraft -- public domain from NASA.gov File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This article is about the NASA space mission. ... The Space Shuttle Discovery as seen from the International Space Station. ... Telerobotics is the area of robotics that is concerned with the control of robots from a distance, chiefly using wireless connections ( like WiFi and similar). ... Adjectives: Terrestrial, Terran, Telluric, Tellurian, Earthly Atmosphere Surface pressure: 101. ... A space probe is an unmanned space mission in which a spacecraft leaves Earths orbit. ... Human spaceflight is space exploration with a human crew, and possibly passengers (in contrast to unmanned space missions, which are remotely-controlled or robotic space probes). ... Adjectives: Venusian or (rarely) Cytherean Atmosphere Surface pressure: 9. ... Adjectives: Jovian Atmosphere Surface pressure: 20–200 kPa[4] (cloud layer) Composition: ~86% H2 ~13% Helium 0. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Adjectives: Uranian Atmosphere Surface pressure: 120 kPa (at the cloud level) Composition: 83% Hydrogen 15% Helium 1. ... Adjectives: Neptunian Atmosphere Surface pressure: ≫100 kPa Composition: 80% ±3. ...

Many artificial satellites are robotic spacecraft. An Earth observation satellite, ERS 2 For other uses, see Satellite (disambiguation). ...

Control

Robotic spacecraft use telemetry to radio back to Earth acquired data and vehicle status information. Although generally referred to as "remotely-controlled" or "telerobotic", the earliest orbital spacecraft -- such as Sputnik 1 and Explorer I -- did not receive control signals from Earth. Soon after these first spacecraft, 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. Telemetry is a technology that allows the remote measurement and reporting of information of interest to the system designer or operator. ... Sputnik 1 (Russian: , Satellite 1) was the first artificial satellite to be put into orbit, on October 4, 1957. ... Explorer-I, officially Satellite 1958 Alpha (and sometimes referred to as Explorer 1), was the first Earth satellite of the United States, having been launched at 10:48pm EST on January 31 (03:48 on 1 February in GMT), 1958, as part of the United States program for the International... Autonomous robots are robots which can perform desired tasks in unstructured environments without continuous human guidance. ... Cassini-Huygens is a joint NASA/ESA/ASI unmanned space mission intended to study Saturn and its moons. ... Artists Concept of Rover on Mars NASAs Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission (since 2003) is a unmanned Mars exploration mission that includes sending two Rovers (robots) to explore the Martian surface and geology. ...

History

The first space mission, Sputnik 1, was an artificial satellite put into Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. On 3 November 1957, the Soviets orbited Sputnik 2, the first to carry a living animal into space – a dog. Sputnik 2 (Russian: , Satellite 2) was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, on November 3, 1957, and the first to carry a living animal - a dog. ... Laika, in 1957, became the first animal to be launched into orbit, paving the way for human spaceflight. ...

The United States achieved its first successful space probe launch with the orbit of Explorer I on 31 January 1958. Explorer I was about the size of a grapefruit and weighed less than 14 kilograms compared to 83.6 kg and 508.3 kg for Sputniks 1 and 2 respectively. Nonetheless, Explorer I confirmed the existence of the Van Allen belts, a major scientific discovery at the time.

Only six other countries have successfully launched missions using their own vehicles: France (1965), Japan (1970), China (1970), the United Kingdom (1971), India (1981) and Israel (1988).

Most American space probe missions have been coordinated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and European missions by the European Space Operations Centre, part of the European Space Agency (ESA). ESA has conducted relatively fewer space exploration missions in the past (one example is the Giotto mission, which encountered comet Halley), but have launched several interplanetary spacecraft in recent years (e.g. Rosetta space probe, Mars Express, Venus Express). ESA has, however, launched many spacecraft to carry out astronomy, and is a collaborator with NASA on the Hubble Space Telescope. There have been many successful Russian space missions. There have also been a few Japanese, Chinese and Indian missions. The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, near Los Angeles, California, USA, builds and operates unmanned spacecraft for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). ... Centre in Darmstadt, Germany The European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) is responsible for controlling ESA satellites and space probes. ... ESA redirects here. ... Space exploration is the physical exploration of outer space by both manned and unmanned spacecraft. ... In this artists concept, Giotto points its white high-gain antenna dish towards earth with the ring of solar cells facing the sun. ... Comet Hale-Bopp Comet McNaught as seen from Swifts Creek, Victoria, Australia on 23 January 2007 A comet is a small body in the solar system that orbits the Sun and (at least occasionally) exhibits a coma (or atmosphere) and/or a tail â€” both primarily from the effects of... Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, more generally known as Halleys Comet after Edmond Halley, is a comet that can be seen every 75-76 years. ... Conceptual drawing of the Rosetta orbiter and Philae lander Rosetta is a European Space Agency-led unmanned space mission launched in 2004 intended to study the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ... Concept model of the Mars Express spacecraft Mars Express is a Mars exploration mission of the European Space Agency and the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. ... Venus Express is the first Venus exploration mission of the European Space Agency. ... A giant Hubble mosaic of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant Astronomy is the science of celestial objects (such as stars, planets, comets, and galaxies) and phenomena that originate outside the Earths atmosphere (such as auroras and cosmic background radiation). ... The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an agency of the United States Government, responsible for that nations public space program. ... The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a telescope in orbit around the Earth, named after astronomer Edwin Hubble. ...

List of space probes

This is a condensed version of the more detailed List of planetary probes.

This list includes all individual planetary probes that have studied/were to/will study solar system objects: See also: unmanned space missions, timeline of solar system exploration, satellites (this list is still incomplete) // This list excludes Earth-orbiting observatories Pioneer 5 (USA, 1960) - success Pioneer 6 (USA, 1965) - success Pioneer...

Lunar probes

• Luna program — Soviet Lunar exploration (1959–1976).
• Ranger program — US Lunar hard-landing probes (1961–1965).
• Zond program — Soviet Lunar exploration (1964–1970).
• Surveyor program — US Lunar soft-landing probe (1966–1968).
• Lunar Orbiter program — US Lunar orbital (1966–1967).
• Lunokhod program — Soviet Lunar Rover probes (1970–1973).
• Muses-A mission (Hiten and Hagoromo) — Japanese Lunar orbital and hard-landing probes (1990–1993).
• Clementine — US Lunar orbital (1998).
• Lunar Prospector — US Lunar orbital (1998–1999).
• Smart 1 — European Lunar orbital (2003).
• LUNAR-A — Japanese lunar orbiter and penetrators, launch scheduled for 2004 but delayed ever since.
• SELENE — Japanese lunar orbiter and lander, launch postponed to 2007.

The Luna programme was a series of 24 unmanned space missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. ... The Ranger program was a series of unmanned space missions by the United States in the 1960s whose objective was to obtain the first close-up images of the surface of the Moon. ... The name Zond (meaning probe in Russian) is the name given to two series of Soviet unmanned space missions from 1964 to 1970 to gather information about nearby planets and test spacecraft. ... Photograph of Surveyor(3) lunar landing spacecraft taken by Apollo 12 astronauts (descriptions added). ... Lunar orbiter spacecraft (NASA) The Lunar Orbiter program was a series of five unmanned Lunar orbiter missions launched by the United States in 1966 through 1967 with the purpose of mapping the lunar surface before the Apollo landings. ... Lunokhod (Russian for Moon walker) 1 and 2 were a pair of unmanned lunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union. ... Lunar Rover-Manned land vehicle (NASA) The Lunar Roving Vehicle or Lunar rover or LRV is a land vehicle for use on the Moon. ... Hiten spacecraft The Hiten spacecraft (known before launch as Muses-A), built by the Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science of Japan, was launched on January 24, 1990. ... Hiten spacecraft The Hiten spacecraft, built by the Japanese Space Agency (ISAS), was launched by Japan on January 24, 1990. ... Clementine was a joint space project between the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO, previously the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, or SDIO) and NASA. The objective of the mission was to test sensors and spacecraft components under extended exposure to the space environment and to make scientific observations of the Moon... NASAs Lunar Prospector The Lunar Prospector mission was the third selected by NASA for full development and construction as part of the Discovery Program. ... SMART-1 was a Swedish-designed European Space Agency satellite that orbited around the Moon. ... LUNAR-A LUNAR-A is a Japanese spacecraft that was scheduled to be launched in August 2004. ... Roman sculpture of the torch-bearing moon goddess Luna, or Diana Lucifera (Diana Bringer of Light), who was equated with the Greek Selene (Vatican Museums) In Greek mythology, Selene (Σελήνη, moon; Modern Greek pronunciation IPA: ) was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the titans Hyperion and Theia. ...

Mars probes

• Zond program — failed Soviet flyby probe
• Mars probe program — Soviet orbiters and landers
• Viking program — Two US orbiters and landers (1974)
• Phobos program — Failed Soviet orbiters and Phobos landers
• Mars Pathfinder — Lander and wheeled robot (1997)
• Mars Surveyor '98 program (Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander) — Failed US probes
• Mars Global Surveyor - US Orbiter
• Mars Odyssey — US orbiter
• Mars Observer — failed US Mars orbiter
• Mars Express (Mars Express Orbiter and Beagle 2) — European orbiter and failed lander 2003
• Mars Exploration Rovers — US rovers (2004)
• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — US, launched 2005
• Phoenix — scheduled to launch on August 3, 2007
• Mars Science Laboratory — US, to be launched 2009

The name Zond (meaning probe in Russian) is the name given to two series of Soviet unmanned space missions from 1964 to 1970 to gather information about nearby planets and test spacecraft. ... The Mars program was a series of Mars unmanned landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s. ... NASAs Viking program consisted of two unmanned space missions to Mars, Viking 1 and Viking 2. ... Illustration of the Phobos spacecraft Image of Phobos taken by Phobos 2 spacecraft The Phobos program was an unmanned space mission consisting of two probes launched by the Soviet Union to study Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos. ... Phobos (IPA or , Greek Φόβος: Fright), is the larger and innermost of Mars two moons (the other being Deimos), and is named after Phobos, son of Ares (Mars) from Greek Mythology. ... The Mars Pathfinder was launched on December 4, 1996 by NASA aboard a Delta II rocket, just a month after the Mars Global Surveyor was launched. ... The Mars Surveyor 98 program comprised two spacecraft launched separately, the Mars Climate Orbiter (formerly the Mars Surveyor 98 Orbiter) and the Mars Polar Lander (formerly the Mars Surveyor 98 Lander); on board the Mars Polar Lander spacecraft were two surface-penetrator probes (Deep Space 2). ... Mars Climate Orbiter during tests The Mars Climate Orbiter (formerly the Mars Surveyor 98 Orbiter) was one of two spacecraft in the Mars Surveyor 98 program, the other being the Mars Polar Lander (formerly the Mars Surveyor 98 Lander). ... Conceptual drawing of the Mars Polar Lander on the surface of Mars. ... Artists conception of Mars Global Surveyor (NASA) The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) is a US spacecraft developed by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. ... Artists concept of the 2001 Mars Odyssey Spacecraft 2001 Mars Odyssey is an unmanned spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. ... Mars Observer, launched in September 25, 1992, was the first of the Observer series of planetary missions, was designed to study the geoscience and climate of Mars. ... Concept model of the Mars Express spacecraft Mars Express is a Mars exploration mission of the European Space Agency and the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. ... Oblique view of the Reull Vallis near the Hellas basin, rendered from data obtained by the Mars Express orbiters High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) The Mars Express Orbiter is part of the Mars Express program, a European Space Agency (ESA) mission to Mars. ... Beagle 2 as it would have looked on Mars Beagle 2 was an unsuccessful British landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agencys 2003 Mars Express mission. ... Artists Concept of Rover on Mars (credit: Maas Digital LLC) NASAs Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission is an ongoing unmanned Mars exploration mission, commenced in 2003, that sent two robotic rovers Spirit and Opportunity to explore the Martian surface and geology. ... NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit. ... For the Star Trek spacecraft, see Phoenix (Star Trek). ... 2006 Mars Science Laboratory concept 2003 Mars Science Laboratory concept Schematic diagram of the planned rover components, updated version Schematic diagram of the planned rover components The Mars Science Laboratory (or MSL for short) is a NASA rover scheduled to launch in December 2009 and perform a precision landing on...

General solar system probes

• Venera program — Soviet Venus orbiter and lander
• Vega program — Soviet mission to Venus and Comet Halley
• Zond program — Soviet flyby missions to the Moon, Venus, and Mars
• Pioneer Venus project — US Venus orbiter
• Mariner program — US Mercury, Venus and Mars flybys
• Pioneer program — US Jupiter and Saturn flybys
• Voyager program — US Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune flyby and study of interstellar space
• Giotto mission — European flyby of Comet Halley (1986)
• Sakigake probe — Japanese flyby of Comet Halley (1986)
• Suisei probe — Japanese flyby of Comet Halley (1986)
• Galileo probe — US Jupiter orbiter and atmosphere probe
• Magellan probe — US Venus orbiter
• Cassini-Huygens — US-European Saturn orbiter and Titan lander Huygens (1997–present)
• NEAR Shoemaker — US asteroid lander, launched 1996
• Deep Space 1 — US comet/asteroid flyby, 1998–2000
• Stardust probe — US comet flyby and sample return, launched 1999, returned January 15, 2006
• Genesis — first solar wind sample return mission, 2001–2004 (crash)
• CONTOUR — US comet flyby mission; launch failure in 2003
• Hayabusa — Japanese asteroid orbiter, lander and sample return, launched 2003
• Rosetta — European comet orbiter and lander (Philae); launched 2004
• MESSENGER — US Mercury orbiter, launched 2004
• Deep Impact — successful US comet impactor, launched 2005
• Venus Express — ESA probe to be sent for the observation of the Venus's weather in 2005.
• New Horizons — launched on January 19, 2006, it will be the first probe to visit Pluto (in July 2015)
• Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), scheduled to launch in the summer of 2008.

Color image taken from the surface of Venus by the Soviet Venera 13 lander The Venera series of probes was developed by the USSR for the gathering of data from Venus. ... (*min temperature refers to cloud tops only) Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 9. ... The Vega mission was a Venus mission which also took advantage of the appearance of Comet Halley in 1986. ... (*min temperature refers to cloud tops only) Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 9. ... Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, more generally known as Halleys Comet after Edmond Halley, is a comet that can be seen every 75-76 years. ... The name Zond (meaning probe in Russian) is the name given to two series of Soviet unmanned space missions from 1964 to 1970 to gather information about nearby planets and test spacecraft. ... Apparent magnitude: up to -12. ... (*min temperature refers to cloud tops only) Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 9. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ... The Pioneer mission to Venus consisted of two components, launched separately. ... (*min temperature refers to cloud tops only) Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 9. ... Launch of Mariner 1 (NASA) The Mariner program was a series of unmanned interplanetary probes designed to investigate Mars, Venus and Mercury. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ... The US Pioneer program of unmanned space missions was designed for planetary exploration. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 140 kPa Hydrogen >93% Helium >5% Methane 0. ... Voyager Project redirects here. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 120 kPa Hydrogen 83% Helium 15% Methane 1. ... Atmospheric characteristics Surface pressure ≫100 MPa Hydrogen - H2 80% ±3. ... Interstellar Space was one of the last albums recorded before the death of John Coltrane in 1967. ... In this artists concept, Giotto points its white high-gain antenna dish towards earth with the ring of solar cells facing the sun. ... Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, more generally known as Halleys Comet after Edmond Halley, is a comet that can be seen every 75-76 years. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Spacecraft Sakigake Sakigake (MS-T5), was Japans first interplanetary spacecraft and was lauched January 7, 1985 from Kagoshima Space Center. ... Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, more generally known as Halleys Comet after Edmond Halley, is a comet that can be seen every 75-76 years. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Suisei (the Japanese name meaning `Comet) was launched on August 18, 1985 into heliocentric orbit to fly by Comet P/Halley. ... Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, more generally known as Halleys Comet after Edmond Halley, is a comet that can be seen every 75-76 years. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Galileo being deployed after being launched by the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-34 mission Galileo was an unmanned spacecraft sent by NASA to study the planet Jupiter and its moons. ... Magellan spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center The Magellan spacecraft carried out a mission from 1989-1994, orbiting Venus from 1990-1994. ... Cassini-Huygens is a joint NASA/ESA/ASI unmanned space mission intended to study Saturn and its moons. ... Titan (, from Ancient Greek Τῑτάν) or Saturn VI is the largest moon of Saturn and the second largest moon in the solar system,[4] after Jupiters moon Ganymede. ... Near Earth Asteroid Eros as seen from the NEAR spacecraft. ... The spacecraft Deep Space 1 was launched October 24, 1998 on top of a Delta II rocket. ... An artists rendering of Stardust (NASA image) Stardust is an American interplanetary spacecraft launched on February 7, 1999. ... In its collecting configuration, the Genesis spacecraft exposed collecting wafers to the solar wind. ... The Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) was a Discovery-class space mission. ... For other uses, see Hayabusa (disambiguation). ... Conceptual drawing of the Rosetta orbiter and Philae lander Rosetta is a European Space Agency-led unmanned space mission launched in 2004 intended to study the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ... Philae (previously known as RoLand) is the name of the lander that accompanies the Rosetta spacecraft. ... This article is about the NASA space mission. ... Illustration of the Deep Impact space probe after impactor separation (artists conception) Deep Impact is a NASA space probe designed to study the composition of the interior of the comet Tempel 1. ... Venus Express is the first Venus exploration mission of the European Space Agency. ... New Horizons is a NASA unmanned mission to fly by Pluto and its moons. ... January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... IBEX is a satellite that will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. ...

See also

• Unmanned resupply spacecraft
• Geosynchronous satellite
• Landings on other planets
• List of planetary probes
• List of unmanned spacecraft by program
• Manned space mission
• Satellite
• Space exploration
• Space observatory
• Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
• Timeline of first orbital launches by nationality
• Timeline of planetary exploration

A geosynchronous satellite is a satellite whose orbital track on the Earth repeats regularly over points on the Earth over time. ... Moon Luna 9 - February 3, 1966 Surveyor 1 - June 2, 1966 Luna 13 - December 24, 1966 Surveyor 3 - April 20, 1967 Surveyor 5 - September 11, 1967 Surveyor 6 - November 10, 1967 Surveyor 7 - January 10, 1968 Apollo 11 - manned mission, July 20, 1969 Apollo 12 - manned mission, November 18, 1969... This list includes all individual planetary probes that have studied/were to/will study solar system objects: See also: unmanned space missions, timeline of solar system exploration, satellites (this list is still incomplete) // This list excludes Earth-orbiting observatories Pioneer 5 (USA, 1960) - success Pioneer 6 (USA, 1965) - success Pioneer... Here is an incomplete list of all unmanned spacecraft categorized by program. ... Human spaceflight is space exploration with a human crew, and possibly passengers (in contrast to unmanned space missions, which are remotely-controlled or robotic space probes). ... An Earth observation satellite, ERS 2 For other uses, see Satellite (disambiguation). ... Space exploration is the physical exploration of outer space by both manned and unmanned spacecraft. ... Space telescopes A space observatory is any instrument in outer space which is used for observation of distant planets, galaxies, and other outer space objects. ... Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes // Key: Year - Origin - Target - Status - Description 1950s 1957 - Soviet Union - Earth - Success - Sputnik 1 is launched, the first Earth orbiting satellite 1957 - Soviet Union - Earth - Partial success - Sputnik 2 is launched, the first Earth orbiting satellite with an animal (Laika) 1958 - USA - Earth... While a number of countries have built satellites, only a few have sent objects into orbit using their own launch systems. ... Timeline of planetary exploration by date of launch. ...

External links

• NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Russia's unmanned moon missions