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Cassini-Huygens to Saturn
Launch: October 15,1997
A joint endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, Cassini arrived at Saturn in June 2004 carrying a record number of 12 instruments. The mission is an intensive study of Saturn's rings, its moons and magnetosphere. Cassini released the Huygens probe towards Saturn's largest moon, Titan and the probe successfully landed on the moon's surface in January 2005.
+ Overview
+ Cassini home page
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CloudSat
Launch: April 28, 2006
CloudSat is the first satellite that uses an advanced radar to "slice" through clouds to see their vertical structure. Their data will contribute to better predictions of clouds and their role in climate change.
+ Overview
+ CloudSat home page
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Dawn
Launch: September 27, 2007
Dawn, the first spacecraft ever planned to orbit two different bodies after leaving Earth, will orbit Vesta and Ceres, two of the largest asteroids in the solar system.
+ Overview
+ Dawn home page
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Epoxi
Launch: January 12, 2005
The Epoxi mission recycles the already "in flight" Deep Impact spacecraft to investigate two distinct celestial targets of opportunity. In 2008, Epoxi observed five nearby stars with "transiting extrasolar planets," and later, on Nov. 4,
2010, the spacecraft will fly by and investigate comet Hartley.
+ Overview
+ Epoxi home page
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Jason 1
Launch: December 7, 2001
This oceanography mission is a follow-up to Topex/Poseidon and monitors global ocean circulation, discovers the tie between the oceans and atmosphere, improves global climate predictions, and monitors events such as El Niño.
+ Overview
+ Jason home page
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Keck Interferometer
First light: March 2001
The Keck Interferometer links two 10-meter (33-foot) telescopes on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The linked telescopes form the world's most powerful optical telescope system. They will be used to search for planets around nearby stars, as part of NASA's quest to find habitable, Earth-like planets.
+ Overview
+ Telescope home page
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Mars Exploration Rovers
Launch of Spirit: June 10, 2003
Launch of Opportunity: July 7, 2003
In April 2004, two mobile robots named Spirit and Opportunity successfully completed their primary three-month missions on opposite sides of Mars and went into bonus overtime work.
+ Overview
+ Rover home page
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Mars Odyssey
Launch: April 7, 2001
Mars Odyssey is an orbiting spacecraft designed to determine the composition of the martian surface, to detect water and shallow buried ice, and to study the radiation environment.
+ Overview
+ Odyssey home page
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Palomar Observatory
First light: December 1998
A joint effort between JPL and the California Institute of Technology, the Palomar Observatory near San Diego houses a collection of famous telescopes, including the Hale 200-inch and Samuel Oschin 48-inch telescopes. The Palomar Adaptive Optics System, built by JPL and Caltech, corrects for the atmospheric blur of astronomical targets caused by turbulence in Earth's atmosphere. This system's camera was built by Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
+ Palomar Observatory home page
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Phoenix
Launch: August 4, 2007
In the continuing pursuit of water on Mars, the poles are a good place to probe, as water ice is found there. This mission has sent a high-latitude lander to Mars where it is using its robotic arm to dig trenches up to half a meter (1.6 feet) into layers of soil and water ice.
+ Overview
+ JPL Phoenix site
+ University of Arizona Phoenix Site
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Quick Scatterometer
Launch: June 19, 1999
This ocean-observing satellite carries an instrument called a scatterometer, which operates by sending radar pulses to the ocean surface and measuring the "backscattered" or echoed radar pulses bounced back to the satellite. This instrument can acquire hundreds of times more observations of surface wind velocity each day than can ships and buoys.
+ Overview
+ Instrument home page
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Spitzer Space Telescope
Launch: August 25, 2003
This spaceborne telescope uses infrared technology to study celestial objects that are too cool, too dust-enshrouded or too far away to otherwise be seen. Spitzer, along with the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, is part of NASA's Great Observatories Program.
+ Overview
+ Telescope home page
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Stardust-NExT
Launch: February 7, 1999
The Stardust-NExT mission recycles the already "in flight" Stardust spacecraft to flyby and investigate comet Tempel 1 in Feb. 2011. The Stardust spacecraft successfully flew through the cloud of dust that surrounds the nucleus of comet Wild-2 and gathered a sample of cometary material. The Stardust return capsule landed in January 2006 carrying the collected particles.
+ Overview
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Ulysses Solar Polar Mission
Launch: October 6, 1990
A joint project between NASA and the European Space Agency, Ulysses for the first time sent a spacecraft out of the ecliptic - the plane in which Earth and other planets orbit the Sun - to study the Sun's north and south poles. The prime mission concluded in 1995 but Ulysses continued to monitor the Sun.
+ Overview
+ Ulysses home page
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Voyager, The Interstellar Mission
Voyager 1 launch: September 5, 1977
Voyager 2 launch: August 20, 1977
The twin spacecraft Voyager 1 and 2 flew by and observed Jupiter and Saturn, while Voyager 2 went on to visit Uranus and Neptune. Both craft are now heading out of the solar system. In 1998, Voyager 1 became the most distant human-made object in space.
+ Overview
Project web site
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Wide Field and Planetary Camera
Launches: April 24, 1990; December 2, 1993
These two instruments have served as the main camera capturing pictures on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. When an optical flaw was discovered in Hubble's main mirror, JPL's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 corrected the space telescope's vision and saved the mission.
+ Overview
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