space faq upcoming planetary probes archive name space new probes last modified date upcoming planetary probes missions and schedules information on upcoming or currently active missions not mentioned below would be welcome sources nasa fact sheets cassini mission design team isas nasda launch schedules press kits asuka astro d isas japan x ray astronomy satellite launched into earth orbit on equipped with large area wide wavelength angstrom x ray telescope x ray ccd cameras and imaging gas scintillation proportional counters cassini saturn orbiter and titan atmosphere probe cassini is a joint nasa esa project designed to accomplish an exploration of the saturnian system with its cassini saturn orbiter and huygens titan probe cassini is scheduled for launch aboard a titan iv centaur in october of after gravity assists of venus earth and jupiter in a vvejga trajectory the spacecraft will arrive at saturn in june of upon arrival the cassini spacecraft performs several maneuvers to achieve an orbit around saturn near the end of this initial orbit the huygens probe separates from the orbiter and descends through the atmosphere of titan the orbiter relays the probe data to earth for about hours while the probe enters and traverses the cloudy atmosphere to the surface after the completion of the probe mission the orbiter continues touring the saturnian system for three and a half years titan synchronous orbit trajectories will allow about flybys of titan and targeted flybys of iapetus dione and enceladus the objectives of the mission are threefold conduct detailed studies of saturn s atmosphere rings and magnetosphere conduct close up studies of saturn s satellites and characterize titan s atmosphere and surface one of the most intriguing aspects of titan is the possibility that its surface may be covered in part with lakes of liquid hydrocarbons that result from photochemical processes in its upper atmosphere these hydrocarbons condense to form a global smog layer and eventually rain down onto the surface the cassini orbiter will use onboard radar to peer through titan s clouds and determine if there is liquid on the surface experiments aboard both the orbiter and the entry probe will investigate the chemical processes that produce this unique atmosphere the cassini mission is named for jean dominique cassini the first director of the paris observatory who discovered several of saturn s satellites and the major division in its rings the titan atmospheric entry probe is named for the dutch physicist christiaan huygens who discovered titan and first described the true nature of saturn s rings key scheduled dates for the cassini mission vvejga trajectory titan iv centaur launch venus gravity assist venus gravity assist earth gravity assist jupiter gravity assist saturn arrival titan probe release titan probe entry end of primary mission schedule last updated galileo jupiter orbiter and atmosphere probe in transit has returned the first resolved images of an asteroid gaspra while in transit to jupiter efforts to unfurl the stuck high gain antenna hga have essentially been abandoned jpl has developed a backup plan using data compression jpeg like for images lossless compression for data from the other instruments which should allow the mission to achieve approximately of its original objectives galileo schedule launch from space shuttle venus flyby venus data playback st earth flyby high gain antenna unfurled st asteroid belt passage asteroid gaspra flyby nd earth flyby nd asteroid belt passage asteroid ida flyby probe separation orbiter deflection maneuver orbital tour of jovian moons jupiter io encounter ganymede ganymede callisto europa ganymede europa europa jupiter magnetotail exploration hiten japanese isas lunar probe launched has made multiple lunar flybys released hagoromo a smaller satellite into lunar orbit this mission made japan the third nation to orbit a satellite around the moon magellan venus radar mapping mission has mapped almost the entire surface at high resolution currently collecting a global gravity map mars observer mars orbiter including m pixel resolution camera launched on a titan iii tos booster mo is currently in transit to mars arriving on operations will start for one martian year days topex poseidon joint us french earth observing satellite launched on an ariane booster the primary objective of the topex poseidon project is to make precise and accurate global observations of the sea level for several years substantially increasing understanding of global ocean dynamics the satellite also will increase understanding of how heat is transported in the ocean ulysses european space agency probe to study the sun from an orbit over its poles launched in late it carries particles and fields experiments such as magnetometer ion and electron collectors for various energy ranges plasma wave radio receivers etc but no camera since no human built rocket is hefty enough to send ulysses far out of the ecliptic plane it went to jupiter instead and stole energy from that planet by sliding over jupiter s north pole in a gravity assist manuver in february this bent its path into a solar orbit tilted about degrees to the ecliptic it will pass over the sun s south pole in the summer of its aphelion is au and surprisingly its perihelion is about au that s right a solar studies spacecraft that s always further from the sun than the earth is while in jupiter s neigborhood ulysses studied the magnetic and radiation environment for a short summary of these results see science v p september for gory technical detail see the many articles in the same issue other space science missions note this is based on a posting by ron baalke in with isas nasda information contributed by yoshiro yamada yamada yscvax ysc go jp i m attempting to track changes based on updated shuttle manifests corrections and updates are welcome missions o alexis spring pegasus alexis array of low energy x ray imaging sensors is to perform a wide field sky survey in the soft low energy x ray spectrum it will scan the entire sky every six months to search for variations in soft x ray emission from sources such as white dwarfs cataclysmic variable stars and flare stars it will also search nearby space for such exotic objects as isolated neutron stars and gamma ray bursters alexis is a project of los alamos national laboratory and is primarily a technology development mission that uses astrophysical sources to demonstrate the technology contact project investigator jeffrey j bloch jjb beta lanl gov for more information o wind aug delta ii rocket satellite to measure solar wind input to magnetosphere o space radar lab sep sts srl gather radar images of earth s surface o total ozone mapping spectrometer dec pegasus rocket study of stratospheric ozone o sfu space flyer unit isas conducting space experiments and observations and this can be recovered after it conducts the various scientific and engineering experiments sfu is to be launched by isas and retrieved by the u s space shuttle on sts in o polar auroral plasma physics may delta ii rocket june measure solar wind and ions and gases surrounding the earth o iml sts nasda jul iml international microgravity laboratory o adeos nasda advanced earth observing satellite o muses b mu space engineering satellite b isas conducting research on the precise mechanism of space structure and in space astronomical observations of electromagnetic waves lunar a isas elucidating the crust structure and thermal construction of the moon s interior proposed missions o advanced x ray astronomy facility axaf possible launch from shuttle in axaf is a space observatory with a high resolution telescope it would orbit for years and study the mysteries and fate of the universe o earth observing system eos possible launch in of us orbiting space platforms to provide long term data years of earth systems science including planetary evolution o mercury observer possible launch o lunar observer possible launch would be sent into a long term lunar orbit the observer from miles above the moon s poles would survey characteristics to provide a global context for the results from the apollo program o space infrared telescope facility possible launch by shuttle in this is the th element of the great observatories program a free flying observatory with a lifetime of to years it would observe new comets and other primitive bodies in the outer solar system study cosmic birth formation of galaxies stars and planets and distant infrared emitting galaxies o mars rover sample return mrsr robotics rover would return samples of mars atmosphere and surface to earch for analysis possible launch dates for imaging orbiter for rover o fire and ice possible launch in will use a gravity assist flyby of earth in and use a final gravity assist from jupiter in where the probe will split into its fire and ice components the fire probe will journey into the sun taking measurements of our star s upper atmosphere until it is vaporized by the intense heat the ice probe will head out towards pluto reaching the tiny world for study by next faq controversial questions
