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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 oldest active spacecraft for Mars is 2001 Mars Odyssey. 2001 Mars Odyssey. Mission: Mars Odyssey was designed to map the surface of Mars and also acts as a relay for the Curiosity rover. [9] Its name is a tribute to the novel and 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Launched: 7 April 2001; Destination: Mars; Arrival: 24 October 2001 ...
The ESA has also considered a sample return mission, one of the latest known as Martian Moon Sample Return or MMSR, and it may use heritage from an asteroid sample return mission. [ 57 ] Osiris-Rex 2 was a proposal to make OR a double mission, with the other one collecting samples from the two Mars moons. [ 58 ]
The first artificial object sent into space was the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1, launched on 4 October 1957, which successfully orbited Earth until 4 January the following year. [65] The American probe Explorer 6 , launched in 1959, was the first satellite to image Earth from space.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER), started in 2003, was a robotic space mission involving two rovers, Spirit (MER-A) and Opportunity, (MER-B) that explored the Martian surface geology. The mission's scientific objective was to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity on Mars.
It is intended for integration and checkout at the International Space Station (ISS), and would be suitable for deep-space missions from the ISS to and beyond the Moon, including Earth/Moon L1, Sun/Earth L2, near-Earth asteroidal, and Mars orbital destinations. It incorporates a reduced-g centrifuge providing artificial gravity for crew health ...
Mars 2 Orbiter and Lander: Mars 19 May 1971 27 November 1971 impact: 193 days (6 mo, 9 d) The Mars 2 lander crashed into Mars on 27 November 1971, in a failed soft landing attempt. It was the first manmade object to reach the surface of Mars. The orbiter continued operating until 22 August 1972. [6] [7] Mars 3 Orbiter and Lander: Mars 28 May 1971
Space exploration also gives scientists the ability to perform experiments in other settings and expand humanity's knowledge. [67] Another claim is that space exploration is a necessity to humankind and that staying on Earth will eventually lead to extinction. Some of the reasons are lack of natural resources, comets, nuclear war, and worldwide ...