Unmanned space missions are those using remote-controlled spacecraft. The first such mission was the Sputnik I mission, launched October 4, 1957. Some missions are more suitable for unmanned missions rather than manned space missions, due to lower cost and lower risk factors. Since the early 1970s, most unmanned space missions have been based on space probes with built-in mission computers, and as such may be classified as embedded systems.
Most American unmanned missions have been coordinated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and European missions by ESOC, part of ESA (the European Space Agency). ESA has conducted relatively few space exploration missions (one example is the Giotto mission, which encountered comet Halley). ESA has, however, launched various spacecraft to carry out astronomy, and is a collaborator with NASA on the Hubble Space Telescope. There has been a large number of very successful Russian space missions. There were also a few Japanese missions and the Chinese space program is preparing missions for the future.
Unmanned programs through the ages (first mission year given, if known):
Instruments carried by spaceprobes include radiometers, magnetometers, and television cameras sensitive to infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light; there also may be special detectors for micrometeors, cosmic rays, gamma rays, and solar wind.
A probe may be directed to orbit a planet, to soft-land instrument packages on a planetary surface, or to fly by as close as a few thousand miles from one or more planets.
The particulars of trajectory and instrumentation of each spaceprobe are tailored around the mission's scientific and technological objectives; the data provided by a single spaceprobe may require months or even years of analysis.
Unlike an artificial satellite, which is placed in more or less permanent orbit around the earth, a spaceprobe is launched with enough energy to escape the gravitational field of the earth and navigate among the planets.
Instruments carried by spaceprobes include radiometers, magnetometers, and television cameras sensitive to infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light; there also may be special detectors for micrometeors, cosmic rays, gamma rays, and solar wind.
The particulars of trajectory and instrumentation of each spaceprobe are tailored around the mission’s scientific and technological objectives; the data provided by a single spaceprobe may require months or even years of analysis.
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