Unmanned space mission

Unmanned space missions are those using remote-controlled spacecraft. The first such mission was the Sputnik I mission, launched October 4, 1957. Unmanned missions are often more effective in carrying out scientific and observational missions than manned space missions, due to lower cost and lower risk factors. Since the early 1970s, most unmanned space missions have been based on space probes with built-in mission computers, and as such may be classified as embedded systems. The majority American unmanned missions have been coordinated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and European missions by ESOC, part of ESA (the European Space Agency). ESA has conducted relatively few space exploration missions (one example is the Giotto mission, which encountered comet Halley). ESA has, however, launched various spacecraft to carry out astronomy, and is a collaborator with NASA on the Hubble Space Telescope. Unmanned programs through the ages (first mission year given, if known):

Table of contents

1 Early Earth-orbital missions 2 Earth observation satellites 3 Communication satellites 4 Lunar exploration 5 Solar System exploration 5.1 Mars Probes 6 Supply vessels 7 See also 8 External link

Early Earth-orbital missions

• Sputnik program, 1957 - Earth orbit.\n*Explorer program, 1958 - Earth orbit.\n*Vanguard program, 1959 - Earth orbit.

Earth observation satellites

• Tiros program (1960s).\n*Nimbus program (1960s).\n*Landsat program.

Communication satellites

• Syncom program (1961-1964).\n*Telstar (1962).\n*Relay program (1963).

Lunar exploration

• Luna program, 1959 - Lunar exploration.\n*Lunokhod program - unmanned Lunar Rover probes.\n*Zond program - unmanned Lunar exploration.\n*Ranger program - Lunar hard-landing probes.\n*Surveyor program - Lunar soft-landing probe.\n*Lunar Orbiter program - Lunar orbital.\n*Muses-A mission (Hiten and Hagoromo) - Lunar orbital and hard-landing probes (1990-1993).\n*Clementine mission - Lunar orbital (1998).\n*Lunar Prospector - Lunar orbital (1998-1999).\n*Smart 1 - Lunar orbital (2003).\n*LUNAR-A - lunar orbiter and penetrators, to be launched in 2004\n*SELENE - lunar orbiter and lander, to be launched in 2005

Solar System exploration

• Venera program - Venus orbital and landing\n*Vega program - Venus and Comet Halley\n*Zond program - Moon, Venus, and Mars flyby\n*Pioneer Venus project - Venus orbital and landing\n*Mariner program - Mercury, Venus and Mars, flyby and orbital\n*Pioneer program - Jupiter and Saturn flyby\n*Voyager program - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune flyby\n*Giotto mission - Flyby of the Halley comet (1986)\n*Sakigake probe - Flyby of the Halley comet (1986)\n*Suisei probe - Flyby of the Halley comet (1986)\n*Galileo probe - Jupiter orbiter and "lander"\n*Magellan probe - Venus orbiter\n*Cassini-Huygens - Saturn orbiter and Titan lander Huygens; launched 1997\n*NEAR Shoemaker - asteroid lander, launched 1996\n*Deep Space 1 - comet/asteroid flyby, 1998-2000\n*Stardust probe - comet flyby and sample return, launched 1999, expected return 2006\n*CONTOUR - comet flyby mission; launch failure in 2003 \n*Hayabusa probe - asteroid orbiter, lander and sample return, launched 2003\n*Rosetta - comet orbiter and lander (Philae); launched 2004\n*Dawn - Ceres and Vesta orbiter, to be launched in 2006\n*MESSENGER - Mercury orbiter, to be launched in 2004

Mars Probes

\n*Zond program - failed flyby probe\n*Mars probe program - orbiters and landers\n*Viking program - Two orbiters and landers (1974)\n*Phobos program - Orbiters/failed Phobos landers\n*Mars Pathfinder - Lander and wheeled robot (1996)\n*Mars Surveyor '98 program (Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander) \n*Mars Odyssey - Mars orbiter\n*Mars Observer - failed Mars orbiter\n*Mars Express - launch and arrival in Mars orbit in 2003\n**Mars Express Orbiter - Mars orbiter\n**Beagle 2 - failed lander, carried to Mars by Mars Express orbiter (2003)\n*Mars Exploration Rovers - A pair of wheeled robots to explore equatorial regions (2004)\n*Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - to be launched 2005

Supply vessels

• Progress spacecraft, - resupply vessels to Space stations, 1978-Present.

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See also

\n* geosynchronous satellite\n* List of unmanned spacecraft by program\n* manned space mission \n* satellite\n* space exploration \n* space observatory\n* Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes\n* Timeline of planetary exploration

External link

\n*http://sci.esa.int/home/ourmissions/index.cfm Category:Space exploration\nCategory:Embedded systems \n