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This is a list of space probes that have left Earth orbit (or were launched with that intention but failed), organized by their planned destination. It includes planetary probes, solar probes, and probes to asteroids and comets, but excludes lunar missions, which are listed separately at List of lunar probes and List of Apollo missions.
The Parker Solar Probe (PSP; previously Solar Probe, Solar Probe Plus or Solar Probe+) [6] is a NASA space probe launched in 2018 to make observations of the Sun's outer corona. It used repeated gravity assists from Venus to develop an eccentric orbit, approaching within 9.86 solar radii (6.9 million km or 4.3 million miles) [ 7 ] [ 8 ] from ...
A CNSA space mission first proposed in 2019 would be launched in 2024 with the intention to research the heliosphere. Both probes would use gravity assists at Jupiter and fly by Kuiper belt objects, and the second is also planned to fly by Neptune and Triton. The other goal is to reach 100 AU from the Sun by 2049, the centennial of the People's ...
Starlight aims to accelerate the spacecraft with powerful lasers, a method the project refers to as DEEP-IN (Directed Energy Propulsion for Interstellar Exploration), [2] thus allowing them to reach stars near the Solar System in a matter of years, in contrast to traditional propulsion methods which would require thousands of years.
Solar System space probes operational as of November 2024. This is a list of active space probes which have escaped Earth orbit. It includes lunar space probes, but does not include space probes orbiting at the Sun–Earth Lagrangian points (for these, see List of objects at Lagrangian points). A craft is deemed "active" if it is still able to ...
An illustration depicts NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft traveling through interstellar space, or the space between stars, which it entered in 2012. - NASA/JPL-Caltech
IKAROS, the first space-probe with a solar sail in flight (artist's depiction), featuring a typical square sail configuration of almost 200 m 2. Solar sails (also known as lightsails, light sails, and photon sails) are a method of spacecraft propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large surfaces.
The concept of a gravitational slingshot is a form of propulsion to carry a space probe onward to other destinations without the expense of reaction mass; harnessing the gravitational energy of other celestial objects allows the spacecraft to gain kinetic energy. [80]