List of uncrewed NASA missions
Since 1958, NASA has overseen more than 1,000 uncrewed missions into Earth orbit or beyond.[1] It has both launched its own missions and provided funding for private-sector missions. A number of NASA missions, including the Explorers Program, Voyager program, and New Frontiers program, are ongoing.
List of missions
Explorers Program (1958–present)
The Explorer program has launched more than 90 missions since it began more than five decades ago. It has matured into one of NASA's lower-cost mission programs.[2]
The program started as a U.S. Army proposal to place a scientific satellite into orbit during the International Geophysical Year (1957–58). However, that proposal was rejected in favor of the U.S. Navy's Project Vanguard. The Explorer program was later reestablished to catch up with the Soviet Union after the launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957. Explorer 1 was launched January 31, 1958; at this time the project still belonged to the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).[3] Besides being the first U.S. satellite, it is known for discovering the Van Allen radiation belt.[4]
The Explorer program was later transferred to NASA, which continued to use the name for an ongoing series of relatively small space missions, typically an artificial satellite with a science focus. Over the years, NASA has launched a series of Explorer spacecraft carrying a wide variety of scientific investigations.
Pioneer program (1958–1978)
The Pioneer program was a series of NASA uncrewed space missions designed for planetary exploration. There were a number of missions in the program, most notably Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, which explored the outer planets and left the Solar System. Both carry a golden plaque, depicting a man and a woman and information about the origin and the creators of the probes, should any extraterrestrials find them someday.[5]
Additionally, the Pioneer mission to Venus consisted of two components, launched separately. Pioneer Venus 1 (Pioneer Venus Orbiter) was launched in May 1978 and remained in orbit until 1992. Pioneer Venus 2 (Pioneer Venus Multiprobe), launched in August 1978, sent four small probes into the Venusian atmosphere.[6]
Project Echo (1960–1964)
Project Echo was the first passive communications satellite experiment. Each spacecraft was a metalized balloon satellite to be inflated in space and acting as a passive reflector of microwave signals. Communication signals were bounced off of them from one point on Earth to another.[7] NASA's Echo 1 satellite was built by
Echo 2 was a 41.1-meter (135 ft) diameter
Ranger program (1961–1965)
The Ranger program was a series of
Ranger was originally designed, beginning in 1959, in three distinct phases, called "blocks." Each block had different mission objectives and progressively more advanced system design. The
Telstar (1962–1963)
Telstar was not a NASA program but rather a commercial communication satellite project. NASA's contributions to it were limited to launch services, as well as tracking and telemetry duties. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 was launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the first television pictures, telephone calls, and fax images, as well as providing the first live transatlantic television feed. Telstar 2 was launched May 7, 1963.[11]
Mariner program (1962–1973)
The Mariner program conducted by NASA launched a series of
.All Mariner spacecraft were based on a hexagonal or octagonal "bus", which housed all of the electronics, and to which all components were attached, such as antennae, cameras, propulsion, and power sources. All probes except Mariner 1, Mariner 2 and Mariner 5 had TV cameras. The first five Mariners were launched on Atlas-Agena rockets, while the last five used the Atlas-Centaur.
Lunar Orbiter program (1966–1967)
The Lunar Orbiter program was a series of five
All five missions were successful, and 99% of the Moon was mapped from photographs taken with a resolution of 60 meters (200 ft) or better. The first three missions were dedicated to imaging 20 potential human lunar landing sites, selected based on Earth-based observations. These were flown at low inclination orbits. The fourth and fifth missions were devoted to broader scientific objectives and were flown in high-altitude polar orbits.[20] All Lunar Orbiter craft were launched by an Atlas-Agena D launch vehicle.
During the Lunar Orbiter missions, the first pictures of Earth as a whole were taken, beginning with Earth-rise over the lunar surface by Lunar Orbiter 1 in August 1966. The first full picture of the whole Earth was taken by Lunar Orbiter 5 on August 8, 1967.[21] A second photo of the whole Earth was taken by Lunar Orbiter 5 on November 10, 1967.
Surveyor program (1966–1968)
The Surveyor Program was a NASA program that, from 1966 through 1968, sent seven
Five of the Surveyor craft successfully soft-landed on the Moon. Two failed: Surveyor 2 crashed at high velocity after a failed mid-course correction, and Surveyor 4 was lost for contact 2.5 minutes before its scheduled touch-down.[22]
All seven spacecraft are still on the Moon; none of the missions included returning them to Earth. Some parts of Surveyor 3 were returned to Earth by the crew of Apollo 12, which landed near it in 1969.
Helios probes (1974–1976)
Helios I and Helios II, also known as Helios-A and Helios-B, were a pair of space probes launched into
Viking program (1975)
The Viking program consisted of a pair of American space probes sent to Mars—
The primary objectives of the Viking orbiters were to transport the landers to Mars, perform reconnaissance to locate and certify landing sites, act as communications relays for the landers, and to perform their own scientific investigations. The orbiter, based on the earlier Mariner 9 spacecraft, was an octagon approximately 2.5 m (8.2 ft) across. The total launch mass was 2,328 kilograms (5,132 lb), of which 1,445 kilograms (3,186 lb) were propellant and attitude control gas.[25]
Voyager program (1977–present)
The Voyager program consists of a pair of uncrewed scientific
As of January 19, 2019[update], Voyager 1 was at a distance of 145.148 AU (13.492 billion miles (21.713×10 9 km)) from Earth, traveling away from the Sun at a speed of about 10.6 mi/s (17.1 km/s), which corresponds to a greater specific orbital energy than any other probe.[29]
High Energy Astronomy Observatory 1 (1977)
The first of
HEAO included four large X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy instruments, known as A1, A2, A3, and A4, respectively (before launch, HEAO 1 was known as HEAO A). The orbital inclination was about 22.7 degrees.
Solar Maximum Mission (1980)
The Solar Maximum Mission
Although not unique in this endeavor, the SMM was notable in that its useful life compared with similar spacecraft was significantly increased by the direct intervention of a human space mission. During STS-41-C in 1984, the Space Shuttle Challenger intercepted the SMM, maneuvering it into the shuttle's payload bay for maintenance and repairs. SMM had been fitted with a shuttle "grapple fixture" so that the shuttle's robot arm could grab it for repair.[32]
The Solar Maximum Mission ended on December 2, 1989, when the spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere and burned up.[33]
Infrared Astronomical Satellite (1983)
The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) was the first-ever space-based observatory to perform a survey of the entire sky at infrared wavelengths.[34] It discovered about 350,000 sources, many of which are still awaiting identification. New discoveries included a dust disk around Vega and the first images of the Milky Way Galaxy's core.
IRAS's life, like those of most infrared satellites that followed it, was limited by its cooling system. To effectively work in the infrared domain, the telescope must be cooled to cryogenic temperatures.
The telescope was a joint project of the United States (NASA), the Netherlands (NIVR), and the United Kingdom (SERC). Over 250,000 infrared sources were observed at 12, 25, 60, and 100 micrometer wavelengths.[37]
Magellan probe (1989–1994)
The Magellan spacecraft was a space probe sent to the planet Venus, the first uncrewed interplanetary spacecraft to be launched by NASA since its successful
Magellan created the first (and currently the best) high-resolution mapping of the planet's surface features. Prior Venus missions had created low-resolution radar globes of general, continent-sized formations. Magellan, performed detailed imaging and analysis of craters, hills, ridges, and other geologic formations, to a degree comparable to the visible-light photographic mapping of other planets.
Galileo (1989–2003)
Galileo was an uncrewed spacecraft sent by NASA to study the planet Jupiter and its moons. It was launched on October 18, 1989, by the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-34 mission. It arrived at Jupiter on December 7, 1995, via gravitational assist flybys of Venus and Earth.[40]
Despite antenna problems, Galileo conducted the first
On September 21, 2003, Galileo's mission was terminated by sending the orbiter into Jupiter's atmosphere at a speed of nearly 50 kilometers per second. The spacecraft was low on propellant; another reason for its destruction was to avoid contamination of local moons, such as Europa, with bacteria from Earth.[41]
Hubble Space Telescope (1990–present)
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a
The HST was created with a budget of $2 billion[43] and has continued operation since 1990, delighting both scientists and the public. Some of its images, such as the Hubble Deep Field, have become famous.
Ulysses (1990–2009)
Ulysses is a decommissioned
By February 2008, the power output from the RTG, which is generated by heat from radioactive decay, had decreased enough to leave insufficient power to keep the spacecraft's attitude control hydrazine fuel from freezing. Mission scientists kept the fuel liquid by conducting short thruster burns, allowing the mission to continue.[45][46][47] The cessation of mission operations and deactivation of the spacecraft was determined by the inability to prevent attitude control fuel from freezing.[45][48] The last day for mission operations on Ulysses was June 30, 2009.[49][50]
Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (1991)
The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) was a science satellite used from 1991 to 2005 to study Earth's atmosphere, including the
Discovery Program (1992–present)
NASA's Discovery Program (as compared to
NASA also accepts proposals for competitively selected Discovery Program Missions of Opportunity. This provides opportunities to participate in non-NASA missions by providing funding for a science instrument or hardware components of a science instrument or to re-purpose an existing NASA spacecraft.
Missions funded by NASA through this program include .
The Mars Pathfinder (MESUR Pathfinder[53]) was launched on December 4, 1996, just a month after the Mars Global Surveyor was launched. On board the lander, later renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, was a small rover called Sojourner that executed many experiments on the Martian surface.[54] It was the second project from NASA's Discovery Program. The mission was directed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, responsible for NASA's Mars Exploration Program.
The
Deep Impact is a NASA
Kepler is a
Clementine (1994)
Clementine (officially called the Deep Space Program Science Experiment (DSPSE)) was a joint space project between the
Mars Global Surveyor (1996)
The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. It began the United States' return to Mars after a 10-year absence. It completed its primary mission in January 2001 and was in its third extended mission phase when, on November 2, 2006, the spacecraft failed to respond to commands. In January 2007 NASA officially ended the mission.[66]
The Surveyor spacecraft used a series of high-resolution cameras to explore the surface of Mars, returning more than 240,000 images from September 1997 to November 2006.[67] The surveyor had three cameras; a high-resolution camera took black-and-white images (usually 1.5 to 12 m per pixel), and red and blue wide-angle cameras took images for context (240 m per pixel) and daily global images (7.5 kilometers (4.7 mi) per pixel).[68]
Cassini–Huygens (1997–2017)
Cassini–Huygens was a joint NASA/ESA/ASI spacecraft mission studying the planet Saturn and its many natural satellites. It included a Saturn orbiter and an atmospheric probe/lander for the moon Titan, although it also returned data on a wide variety of other things including the Heliosphere, Jupiter, and relativity tests. The Titan probe, Huygens, entered and landed on Titan in 2005. Cassini was the fourth space probe to visit Saturn and the first to enter orbit.
It launched on October 15, 1997, on a
Sixteen European countries and the United States made up the team responsible for designing, building, flying and collecting data from the Cassini orbiter and Huygens probe. The mission was managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the United States, where the orbiter was assembled. Huygens was developed by the European Space Research and Technology Centre.[70]
After several mission extensions, Cassini was deliberately plunged into Saturn's atmosphere on September 15, 2017, to prevent contamination of habitable moons.[71]
Earth Observing System (1997–present)
The Earth Observing System (EOS) is a program of
New Millennium Program (1998–2006)
New Millennium Program (NMP) is a NASA project with a focus on engineering validation of new technologies for space applications. Funding for the program was eliminated from the FY2009 budget by the 110th United States Congress, effectively leading to its cancellation.[72] The spacecraft in the New Millennium Program were originally named "Deep Space" (for missions demonstrating technology for planetary missions) and "Earth Observing" (for missions demonstrating technology for Earth-orbiting missions). With a refocusing of the program in 2000, the Deep Space series was renamed "Space Technology."
Deep Space 1 (DS1) is a spacecraft dedicated to testing a payload of advanced, high-risk technologies. Launched on October 24, 1998, the Deep Space 1 mission carried out a flyby of asteroid 9969 Braille, the mission's science target. Its mission was extended twice to include an encounter with Comet Borrelly and further engineering testing. Problems during its initial stages and with its star tracker led to repeated changes in mission configuration.[73] Deep Space 1 tested twelve technologies.[74] It was the first spacecraft to use ion thrusters, in contrast to the traditional chemical powered rockets.[75]
The Deep Space series was continued by the Deep Space 2 probes, which were launched in January 1999 on Mars Polar Lander and were intended to strike the surface of Mars.
Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (2002)
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), a joint mission of NASA and the
GRACE was a collaborative endeavor involving the Center for Space Research at the
Mars Exploration Rover (2003–2019)
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER), was a robotic space mission involving two rovers exploring the planet Mars. The mission is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which designed, built and is operating the rovers.
The mission began in 2003 with the sending of the two
The total cost of building, launching, landing and operating the rovers on the surface for the initial 90-
MESSENGER (2004–2015)
MESSENGER (an acronym of MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) was a robotic spacecraft that orbited the planet Mercury, the first spacecraft to do so.[82] The 485-kilogram (1,069 lb) spacecraft was launched aboard a Delta II rocket in August 2004 to study Mercury's chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field.
MESSENGER used its instruments on a complex series of flybys that allowed it to decelerate relative to Mercury using minimal fuel. The spacecraft flew by Earth once and Venus twice. Then it flew by Mercury three times, in January 2008, October 2008,[83] and September 2009,[84][85] becoming the second mission to reach Mercury, after Mariner 10. MESSENGER entered orbit around Mercury on March 18, 2011, and it reactivated its science instruments on March 24, returning the first photo from Mercury orbit on March 29.
MESSENGER crashed into Mercury on April 30, 2015, after running out of propellant.[86]
New Frontiers program (2006–present)
The New Frontiers program is a series of space exploration missions being conducted by NASA with the purpose of researching several of the Sun's planets including Jupiter, Venus, and the dwarf planet Pluto. NASA is encouraging both domestic and international scientists to submit mission proposals for the project.
New Frontiers was built on the approach used by the
Commercial Resupply Services (2006–present)
The development of the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) vehicles began in 2006 with the purpose of creating American commercially operated uncrewed cargo vehicles to service the ISS.[90] The development of these vehicles was under a fixed-price, milestone-based program, meaning that each company that received a funded award had a list of milestones with a dollar value attached to them that they did not receive until after they had successfully completed the milestone.[91] Companies were also required to raise an unspecified amount of private investment for their proposal.[92]
On December 23, 2008, NASA awarded Commercial Resupply Services contracts to
Mars Scout Program (2007–2008)
The Mars Scout Program was a NASA initiative to send a series of small, low-cost robotic missions to Mars, competitively selected from proposals by the scientific community. Each Scout project was to cost less than US$485 million. The Phoenix lander and MAVEN orbiter were selected and developed before the program was retired in 2010.[98]
Phoenix was a
Dawn (2007–2018)
Dawn is a NASA spacecraft tasked with the exploration and study of the asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres, the two largest members of the asteroid belt. The spacecraft was constructed with some European cooperation, with components contributed by partners in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. The Dawn mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.[101]
Dawn is the first spacecraft to visit either Vesta or Ceres. It is also the first spacecraft to orbit two separate extraterrestrial bodies, using
Launched on September 27, 2007, Dawn entered orbit around Vesta on July 16, 2011, and explored it until September 5, 2012.[103] Thereafter, the spacecraft headed to Ceres and started to orbit the dwarf planet on March 6, 2015.[104] In November 2018, NASA reported that Dawn had run out of fuel, effectively ending its mission; it will remain in orbit around Ceres, but can no longer communicate with Earth.[105]
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (2009–present)
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA
The LRO mission is a precursor to future human missions to the Moon by NASA. To this end, a detailed mapping program identifies safe landing sites, locates potential resources on the Moon, characterizes the radiation environment, and demonstrates new technology.[107][108] The probe has made a 3-D map of the Moon's surface and has provided some of the first images of Apollo equipment left on the Moon.[109][110] The first images from LRO were published on July 2, 2009, showing a region in the lunar highlands south of Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds).[111]Launched on June 18, 2009,[112] in conjunction with the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), as the vanguard of NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program,[113] this is the first United States mission to the Moon in over ten years.[114] LRO and LCROSS are the first missions launched as part of the United States's Vision for Space Exploration program.
In April 2022, NASA extended the LRO mission for it to continue to study the Moon's surface and geologic features and also investigate new regions enabled with the evolution of LRO's orbit [115]
Mars Science Laboratory (2011–present)
The Curiosity rover is about two times longer and fives times more massive than the
Mars 2020 (2020–present)
Mars 2020 is a
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (2023-present)
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is a NASA program to hire companies to send small robotic landers and rovers to the Moon's south polar region, mostly[132][133] with the goals of scouting for lunar resources, testing in situ resource utilization (ISRU) concepts, and performing lunar science to support the Artemis lunar program. CLPS is intended to buy end-to-end payload services between Earth and the lunar surface using fixed-price contracts.[134][135] The program was extended to add support for large payloads starting after 2025.
See also
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- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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