space faq planetary probe history archive name space probe last modified date planetary probes historical missions this section was lightly adapted from an original posting by larry klaes klaes verga enet dec com mostly minor formatting changes matthew wiener weemba libra wistar upenn edu contributed the section on voyager and the section on sakigake was obtained from isas material posted by yoshiro yamada yamada yscvax ysc go jp us planetary missions mariner venus mars mercury flybys and orbiters mariner the first u s attempt to send a spacecraft to venus failed minutes after launch in the guidance instructions from the ground stopped reaching the rocket due to a problem with its antenna so the onboard computer took control however there turned out to be a bug in the guidance software and the rocket promptly went off course so the range safety officer destroyed it although the bug is sometimes claimed to have been an incorrect fortran do statement it was actually a transcription error in which the bar indicating smoothing was omitted from the expression r dot bar sub n nth smoothed value of derivative of radius this error led the software to treat normal minor variations of velocity as if they were serious leading to incorrect compensation mariner became the first successful probe to flyby venus in december of and it returned information which confirmed that venus is a very hot degrees fahrenheit now revised to degrees f world with a cloud covered atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide sulfuric acid was later confirmed in mariner launched on november was lost when its protective shroud failed to eject as the craft was placed into interplanetary space unable to collect the sun s energy for power from its solar panels the probe soon died when its batteries ran out and is now in solar orbit it was intended for a mars flyby with mariner mariner the sister probe to mariner did reach mars in and took the first close up images of the martian surface in all as it flew by the planet the probe found a cratered world with an atmosphere much thinner than previously thought many scientists concluded from this preliminary scan that mars was a dead world in both the geological and biological sense mariner was sent to venus in it reconfirmed the data on that planet collected five years earlier by mariner plus the information that venus atmospheric pressure at its surface is at least times that of earth s or the equivalent of being feet under the surface of an ocean mariner and were sent to mars in and expanded upon the work done by mariner four years earlier however they failed to take away the concept of mars as a dead planet first made from the basic measurements of mariner mariner ended up in the atlantic ocean in when the rocket launcher autopilot failed mariner the sister probe to mariner became the first craft to orbit mars in it returned information on the red planet that no other probe had done before revealing huge volcanoes on the martian surface as well as giant canyon systems and evidence that water once flowed across the planet the probe also took the first detailed closeup images of mars two small moons phobos and deimos mariner used venus as a gravity assist to mercury in the probe did return the first close up images of the venusian atmosphere in ultraviolet revealing previously unseen details in the cloud cover plus the fact that the entire cloud system circles the planet in four earth days mariner eventually made three flybys of mercury from to before running out of attitude control gas the probe revealed mercury as a heavily cratered world with a mass much greater than thought this would seem to indicate that mercury has an iron core which makes up percent of the entire planet pioneer moon sun venus jupiter and saturn flybys and orbiters pioneer through failed to meet their main objective to photograph the moon close up but they did reach far enough into space to provide new information on the area between earth and the moon including new data on the van allen radiation belts circling earth all three craft had failures with their rocket launchers pioneer was launched on october pioneer on november and pioneer on december pioneer was a moon probe which missed the moon and became the first u s spacecraft to orbit the sun in pioneer was originally designed to flyby venus but the mission was scaled down and it instead studied the interplanetary environment between venus and earth out to million kilometers in a record until mariner pioneer through were placed into solar orbit from to pioneer and are still transmitting information at this time pioneer e would have been number suffered a launch failure in pioneer became the first spacecraft to flyby jupiter in pioneer followed it in and then went on to become the first probe to study saturn in both vehicles should continue to function through and are heading off into interstellar space the first craft ever to do so pioneer venus also known as pioneer venus orbiter or pioneer burned up in the venusian atmosphere on october pvo made the first radar studies of the planet s surface via probe pioneer venus also known as pioneer sent four small probes into the atmosphere in december of the main spacecraft bus burned up high in the atmosphere while the four probes descended by parachute towards the surface though none were expected to survive to the surface the day probe did make it and transmitted for minutes on the ground before its batteries failed ranger lunar lander and impact missions ranger and were test probes for the ranger lunar impact series they were meant for high earth orbit testing in but rocket problems left them in useless low orbits which quickly decayed ranger launched on january was intended to land an instrument capsule on the surface of the moon but problems during the launch caused the probe to miss the moon and head into solar orbit ranger did try to take some images of the moon as it flew by but the camera was unfortunately aimed at deep space during the attempt ranger launched april had the same purpose as ranger but suffered technical problems enroute and crashed on the lunar farside the first u s probe to reach the moon albeit without returning data ranger launched october and similar to ranger and lost all solar panel and battery power enroute and eventually missed the moon and drifted off into solar orbit ranger through had more modified lunar missions they were to send back live images of the lunar surface as they headed towards an impact with the moon ranger failed this objective in when its cameras did not operate ranger through performed well becoming the first u s lunar probes to return thousands of lunar images through lunar orbiter lunar surface photography lunar orbiter through were designed to orbit the moon and image various sites being studied as landing areas for the manned apollo missions of the probes also contributed greatly to our understanding of lunar surface features particularly the lunar farside all five probes of the series launched from to were essentially successful in their missions they were the first u s probes to orbit the moon all los were eventually crashed into the lunar surface to avoid interference with the manned apollo missions surveyor lunar soft landers the surveyor series were designed primarily to see if an apollo lunar module could land on the surface of the moon without sinking into the soil before this time it was feared by some that the moon was covered in great layers of dust which would not support a heavy landing vehicle surveyor was successful in proving that the lunar surface was strong enough to hold up a spacecraft from to only surveyor and were unsuccessful missions the rest became the first u s probes to soft land on the moon taking thousands of images and scooping the soil for analysis apollo landed feet from surveyor in and returned parts of the craft to earth surveyor the last of the series was a purely scientific mission which explored the tycho crater region in viking mars orbiters and landers viking was launched from cape canaveral florida on august on a titan e centaur d rocket the probe went into martian orbit on june and the lander set down on the western slopes of chryse planitia on july it soon began its programmed search for martian micro organisms there is still debate as to whether the probes found life there or not and sent back incredible color panoramas of its surroundings one thing scientists learned was that mars sky was pinkish in color not dark blue as they originally thought the sky is pink due to sunlight reflecting off the reddish dust particles in the thin atmosphere the lander set down among a field of red sand and boulders stretching out as far as its cameras could image the viking orbiter kept functioning until august when it ran out of attitude control propellant the lander was switched into a weather reporting mode where it had been hoped it would keep functioning through but after november an errant command had been sent to the lander accidentally telling it to shut down until further orders communication was never regained again despite the engineers efforts through may of an interesting side note viking s lander has been designated the thomas a mutch memorial station in honor of the late leader of the lander imaging team the national air and space museum in washington d c is entrusted with the safekeeping of the mutch station plaque until it can be attached to the lander by a manned expedition viking was launched on september and arrived in martian orbit on august the lander touched down on september in utopia planitia it accomplished essentially the same tasks as its sister lander with the exception that its seisometer worked recording one marsquake the orbiter had a series of attitude control gas leaks in which prompted it being shut down that july the lander was shut down on april the orbits of both viking orbiters should decay around voyager outer planet flybys voyager was launched september and flew past jupiter on march and by saturn on november voyager was launched august before voyager and flew by jupiter on august by saturn on august by uranus on january and by neptune on august voyager took advantage of a rare once every years alignment to slingshot its way from outer planet to outer planet voyager could in principle have headed towards pluto but jpl opted for the sure thing of a titan close up between the two probes our knowledge of the giant planets their satellites and their rings has become immense voyager discovered that jupiter has complicated atmospheric dynamics lightning and aurorae three new satellites were discovered two of the major surprises were that jupiter has rings and that io has active sulfurous volcanoes with major effects on the jovian magnetosphere when the two probes reached saturn they discovered over ringlets and satellites including the predicted shepherd satellites that keep the rings stable the weather was tame compared with jupiter massive jet streams with minimal variance a year great white spot band cycle is known titan s atmosphere was smoggy mimas appearance was startling one massive impact crater gave it the death star appearance the big surprise here was the stranger aspects of the rings braids kinks and spokes were both unexpected and difficult to explain voyager thanks to heroic engineering and programming efforts continued the mission to uranus and neptune uranus itself was highly monochromatic in appearance one oddity was that its magnetic axis was found to be highly skewed from the already completely skewed rotational axis giving uranus a peculiar magnetosphere icy channels were found on ariel and miranda was a bizarre patchwork of different terrains satellites and one more ring were discovered in contrast to uranus neptune was found to have rather active weather including numerous cloud features the ring arcs turned out to be bright patches on one ring two other rings and other satellites were discovered neptune s magnetic axis was also skewed triton had a canteloupe appearance and geysers what s liquid at k the two voyagers are expected to last for about two more decades their on target journeying gives negative evidence about possible planets beyond pluto their next major scientific discovery should be the location of the heliopause soviet planetary missions since there have been so many soviet probes to the moon venus and mars i will highlight only the primary missions soviet lunar probes luna lunar impact attempt in missed moon and became first craft in solar orbit luna first craft to impact on lunar surface in luna took first images of lunar farside in zond took first images of lunar farside in since luna was also a test for future mars missions luna first probe to soft land on the moon in returned images from surface luna first probe to orbit the moon in luna second successful soviet lunar soft landing mission in zond first successful circumlunar craft zond through accomplished similar missions through the probes were unmanned tests of a manned orbiting soyuz type lunar vehicle luna first probe to land on moon and return samples of lunar soil to earth in luna accomplished similar mission in luna delivered the first unmanned lunar rover to the moon s surface lunokhod in a similar feat was accomplished with luna lunokhod in luna last soviet lunar mission to date returned soil samples in soviet venus probes venera first acknowledged attempt at venus mission transmissions lost enroute in venera attempt to image venus during flyby mission in tandem with venera probe ceased transmitting just before encounter in february of no images were returned venera attempt to place a lander capsule on venusian surface transmissions ceased just before encounter and entire probe became the first craft to impact on another planet in venera first probe to successfully return data while descending through venusian atmosphere crushed by air pressure before reaching surface in venera and mission profiles similar in venera first probe to return data from the surface of another planet in venera accomplished a more detailed mission in venera sent first image of venusian surface in was also the first probe to orbit venus venera accomplished similar mission venera returned first color images of venusian surface in venera accomplished similar mission venera accomplished radar mapping with venera of sections of planet s surface in more detailed than pvo vega accomplished with vega first balloon probes of venusian atmosphere in including two landers flyby buses went on to become first spacecraft to study comet halley close up in march of soviet mars probes mars first acknowledged mars probe in transmissions ceased enroute the following year zond first possible attempt to place a lander capsule on martian surface probe signals ceased enroute in mars first soviet mars probe to land albeit crash on martian surface orbiter section first soviet probe to circle the red planet in mars first successful soft landing on martian surface but lander signals ceased after seconds in mars attempt at orbiting mars in braking rockets failed to fire probe went on into solar orbit mars first fully successful soviet mars mission orbiting mars in returned images of martian surface comparable to u s probe mariner mars landing attempt in lander crashed into the surface mars lander missed mars completely in went into a solar orbit with its flyby bus phobos first attempt to land probes on surface of mars largest moon phobos probe failed enroute in due to human computer error phobos attempt to land probes on martian moon phobos the probe did enter mars orbit in early but signals ceased one week before scheduled phobos landing while there has been talk of soviet jupiter saturn and even interstellar probes within the next thirty years no major steps have yet been taken with these projects more intensive studies of the moon mars venus and various comets have been planned for the s and a mercury mission to orbit and land probes on the tiny world has been planned for how the many changes in the former soviet union now the commonwealth of independent states will affect the future of their space program remains to be seen japanese planetary missions sakigake ms t was launched from the kagoshima space center by isas on january and approached halley s comet within about million km on march the spacecraft is carrying three instru ments to measure interplanetary magnetic field plasma waves solar wind all of which work normally now so isas made an earth swingby by sakigake on january into an orbit similar to the earth s the closest approach was at h m s jst utc h on january the geocentric distance was km this is the first planet swingby for a japanese spacecraft during the approach sakigake observed the geotail some geotail passages will be scheduled in some years hence the second earth swingby will be on june at re earth s radius and the third october at re hiten a small lunar probe was launched into earth orbit on january the spacecraft was then known as muses a but was renamed to hiten once in orbit the lb probe looped out from earth and made its first lunary flyby on march where it dropped off its lb midget satellite hagoromo japan at this point became the third nation to orbit a satellite around the moon joining the unites states and ussr the smaller spacecraft hagoromo remained in orbit around the moon an apparently broken transistor radio caused the japanese space scientists to lose track of it hagoromo s rocket motor fired on schedule on march but the spacecraft s tracking transmitter failed immediately the rocket firing of hagoromo was optically confirmed using the schmidt camera cm f at the kiso observatory in japan hiten made multiple lunar flybys at approximately monthly intervals and performed aerobraking experiments using the earth s atmosphere hiten made a close approach to the moon at jst utc h on february at the height of km from the moon s surface n e and fired its propulsion system for about ten minutes to put the craft into lunar orbit the following is the orbital calculation results after the approach apoapsis altitude about km periapsis altitude about km inclination deg to ecliptic plane period days planetary mission references i also recommend reading the following works categorized in three groups general overviews specific books on particular space missions and periodical sources on space probes this list is by no means complete it is primarily designed to give you places to start your research through generally available works on the subject if anyone can add pertinent works to the list it would be greatly appreciated though naturally i recommend all the books listed below i think it would be best if you started out with the general overview books in order to give you a clear idea of the history of space exploration in this area i also recommend that you pick up some good up to date general works on astronomy and the sol system to give you some extra background most of these books and periodicals can be found in any good public and university library some of the more recently published works can also be purchased in and or ordered through any good mass market bookstore general overviews in alphabetical order by author j kelly beatty et al the new solar system merton e davies and bruce c murray the view from space photographic exploration of the planets kenneth gatland the illustrated encyclopedia of space technology kenneth gatland robot explorers r greeley planetary landscapes douglas hart the encyclopedia of soviet spacecraft nicholas l johnson handbook of soviet lunar and planetary exploration clayton r koppes jpl and the american space program a history of the jet propulsion laboratory richard s lewis the illustrated encyclopedia of the universe mark littman planets beyond discovering the outer solar system eugene f mallove and gregory l matloff the starflight handbook a pioneer s guide to interstellar travel frank miles and nicholas booth race to mars the mars flight atlas bruce murray journey into space oran w nicks far travelers nasa sp james e oberg uncovering soviet disasters exploring the limits of glasnost carl sagan comet carl sagan the cosmic connection carl sagan planets life science library arthur smith planetary exploration thirty years of unmanned space probes andrew wilson jane s solar system log specific mission references charles a cross and patrick moore the atlas of mercury the mariner mission to venus and mercury joel davis flyby the interplanetary odyssey of voyager irl newlan first to venus the story of mariner margaret poynter and arthur l lane voyager the story of a space mission carl sagan murmurs of earth deals with the earth information records placed on voyager and in case the probes are found by intelligences in interstellar space as well as the probes and planetary mission objectives themselves other works and periodicals nasa has published very detailed and technical books on every space probe mission it has launched good university libraries will carry these books and they are easily found simply by knowing which mission you wish to read about i recommend these works after you first study some of the books listed above some periodicals i recommend for reading on space probes are national geographic which has written articles on the pioneer probes to earth s moon luna and the jovian planets jupiter and saturn the ranger surveyor lunar orbiter and apollo missions to luna the mariner missions to mercury venus and mars the viking probes to mars and the voyager missions to jupiter saturn uranus and neptune more details on american soviet european and japanese probe missions can be found in sky and telescope astronomy science nature and scientific american magazines time newsweek and various major newspapers can supply not only general information on certain missions but also show you what else was going on with earth at the time events were unfolding if that is of interest to you space missions are affected by numerous political economic and climatic factors as you probably know depending on just how far your interest in space probes will go you might also wish to join the planetary society one of the largest space groups in the world dedicated to planetary exploration their periodical the planetary report details the latest space probe missions write to the planetary society north catalina avenue pasadena california usa good luck with your studies in this area of space exploration i personally find planetary missions to be one of the more exciting areas in this field and the benefits human society has and will receive from it are incredible with many yet to be realized larry klaes klaes verga enet dec com next faq upcoming planetary probes missions and schedules
