Planets Missions - Science Mission Directorate

Planets Missions (47)

Planetary exploration missions are conducted by some of the most sophisticated robots ever built. Through them we extend our senses to the farthest reaches of the Solar System and into remote and hostile environments, where the secrets of our origins and destiny lie hidden.

Report of the Cassini Extended Mission Senior Review Board - March 8, 2007

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Launch Date	A-Z	Phase
19971016 October 15, 1997	Cassini The Cassini Mission is in the midst of a detailed study of Saturn, its rings, its magnetosphere, its icy satellites, and its moon Titan. Cassini also delivered a probe...	Operating
20081022 20:00:00 USEastern October 22, 2008	Chandrayaan-1 (M3) The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) is one of two instruments that NASA is contributing to India's first mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-1, which is scheduled to be launched in...	Operating
19940125 January 25, 1994	Clementine The Clementine mission was designed to test lightweight miniature sensors and advanced spacecraft components by exposing them, over a long period of time, to the difficult...	Past
20020703 July 03, 2002	CONTOUR The Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) was a mission intended to greatly expand what is known of comet nuclei and to assess their diversity. This mission is part of SMD's Discovery...	Past
20070928 September 27, 2007	Dawn The Dawn mission intends to orbit Vesta and Ceres, two of the largest asteroids in the solar system. According to current theories, the very different properties of Vesta and...	Operating
20050112 January 12, 2005	Deep Impact The Deep Impact mission was selected as a Discovery mission in 1999. The spacecraft was launched aboard a Delta II rocket on January 12, 2005 and left Earth’s orbit toward...	Operating
20050112 January 12, 2005	Deep Impact Epoxi Extrasolar Planet Observation and Deep Impact Extended Investigation EPOXI is a follow-on mission to Deep Impact. This mission is part of SMD's Discovery...	Operating
19981024 October 24, 1998	Deep Space 1 During its 11-month primary mission, DS1 successfully tested 12 revolutionary technologies destined for future missions. In 2001, DS-1 returned the best pictures and other...	Past
20130101 2013	ExoMars The European Space Agency plans for the ExoMars rover to grind samples of Martian soil to fine powder and deliver them to a suite of analytical instruments, including Urey...	Under Study
19891018 October 18, 1989	Galileo The Galileo mission produced a string of discoveries about asteroids, a fragmented comet, Jupiter's atmosphere, Jupiter's magnetic environment, and especially about the...	Past
20010808 August 08, 2001	Genesis The Genesis mission was designed to collect samples of the charged particles in the solar wind and return them to Earth laboratories for detailed analysis. This mission is...	Past
20110901 September 01, 2011	GRAIL The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission is a proposed Discovery Program mission to study the lunar interior. This mission is part of SMD's Discovery...	Under Study
20030509 May 09, 2003	Hayabusa The Hayabusa (formerly Muses-C) mission is to collect a surface sample of material from the small asteroid and return the sample to Earth for analysis....	Operating
20130101 2013	ILN International Lunar Net-work (ILN), aims to provide an organizing theme for all landed science missions in the 2010s by involving each landed station as a node in a...	Under Study
20110811 20:00:00 USEastern August 11, 2011	Juno The Juno mission is the next scientific investigation in the NASA New Frontiers Program. The mission's primary science goal is to significantly improve our understanding of...	Development
20110101 2011	LADEE Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is a NASA mission that will orbit the Moon and its main objective is to characterize the atmosphere and lunar dust...	Under Study
19980107 January 07, 1998	Lunar Prospector Lunar Prospector was the third of NASA's Discovery missions. The project mapped the chemical composition of the lunar surface and the Moon's global magnetic and gravity...	Past
20090424 23:00:00 USEastern April 24, 2009	Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is the first mission in NASA's plan to return to the moon and then to travel to Mars and beyond. This mission is part of SMD's Robotic...	Development
19890504 May 04, 1989	Magellan The Magellan mission scientific objectives were to study land forms and tectonics, impact processes, erosion, deposition, chemical processes, and model the interior of...	Past
19620722 July 21, 1962	Mariner Missions Between 1962 and 1973, NASA designed and built 10 spacecraft named Mariner to explore the inner solar system – visiting the planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars for the first...	Past
20160101 2016	Mars 2016 In 2016, the Astrobiology Field Laboratory (AFL), a pair of Mid-Rovers, or a set of three to four long-lived landers is planned for launch with the results of MRO’s and...	Under Study
19981211 December 11, 1998	Mars Climate Orbiter Mars Climate Orbiter was designed to function as an interplanetary weather satellite and a communications relay for Mars Polar Lander. This mission is part of the Mars...	Past
20030708 20:00:00 GMT-4 July 08, 2003	Mars Exploration Rover - Opportunity The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity landed at on a flat plain known as Meridiani Planum on Mars in January 2004. It carries a sophisticated set of instruments that allow...	Operating
20030610 June 10, 2003	Mars Exploration Rover - Spirit Mars Exploration Rover Spirit landed in Gusev crater on Mars in January 2004. The rover carries a sophisticated set of instruments that allow it to search for evidence of...	Operating
20030603 June 02, 2003	Mars Express (ASPERA-3) Mars Express is exploring the atmosphere and surface of Mars from polar orbit. The mission's main objective is to search for sub-surface water from orbit and deploy a lander...	Operating
19961107 19:00:00 USEastern November 07, 1996	Mars Global Surveyor Mars Global Surveyor is returning an unprecedented amount of data regarding Mars' surface features, atmosphere, and magnetic properties. Scientists are using the data...	Past
20110101 January 01, 2011	Mars Missions Beyond 2009 NASA is developing a long-term Mars exploration program that charts a course for the next two decades. This visionary program will build on scientific discoveries from past...	Under Study
19920925 September 25, 1992	Mars Observer Mars Observer was designed to study the geoscience and climate of Mars. This mission is part of SMD's Mars Exploration...	Past
20010408 April 07, 2001	Mars Odyssey The 2001 Mars Odyssey is an orbiter carrying science experiments designed to make global observations of Mars to improve our understanding of the planet's climate and...	Operating
19961204 December 04, 1996	Mars Pathfinder Mars Pathfinder launched December 2, 1996 and arrived on the surface of Mars on July 4, 1997. The mission was an engineering demonstration of key technologies and concepts...	Past
19990103 January 03, 1999	Mars Polar Lander The Mars Polar Lander was to touch down on the southern polar layered terrain and record local meteorological conditions near the martian south pole. This mission is part of...	Past
20050813 August 12, 2005	Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will seek to find out about the history of water on Mars with its science instruments. They will zoom in for extreme close-up...	Operating
20111001 October 01, 2011	Mars Science Laboratory NASA proposes to develop and to launch a roving long-range, long-duration science laboratory that will be a major leap in surface measurements and pave the way for a future...	Development
	Mars Science Orbiter The Mars Science Orbiter (MSO) is a major infrastructure component for the next decade of Mars exploration. This mission is part of SMD's Mars Exploration...	Under Study
20130101 2013	Mars Scout 13 In the first round of the Mars Scout 2006 competition, two missions for 2011 were selected from 26 proposals for further evaluation in a concept study phase. The selected...	Under Study
20040804 August 03, 2004	MESSENGER MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) is a scientific investigation of the planet Mercury, the least explored terrestrial planet. This...	Operating
19960217 February 17, 1996	NEAR-Shoemaker As the first spacecraft to orbit and land on an asteroid, the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Shoemaker mission continues to answer fundamental questions about the nature and...	Past
20060120 January 19, 2006	New Horizons The New Horizons Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission will help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system, by making the first reconnaissance of Pluto and Charon. The mission...	Operating
20070805 August 04, 2007	Phoenix Phoenix seeks to verify the presence of the Martian Holy Grail: water and habitable conditions....	Operating
19720303 March 03, 1972	Pioneer 10 & 11 These Pioneer missions traveled through the asteroid belt to observe Jupiter, Saturn and continue on to the outer solar...	Past
19780520 May 20, 1978	Pioneer Venus Missions Pioneer Venus consisted of two spacecraft to study Venus: the Orbiter and the...	Past
19610823 August 22, 1961	Ranger The Ranger project of the 1960s was the first U.S. effort to launch probes directly toward the Moon. The spacecraft were designed to relay pictures and other data as they...	Past
20040303 March 02, 2004	Rosetta The Rosetta Orbiter will study the origin of comets, the relationship between cometary and interstellar material and its implications with regard to the origin of the Solar...	Operating
19990207 February 07, 1999	Stardust Stardust is the first U.S. space mission dedicated solely to the exploration of a comet, and the first robotic mission designed to return extraterrestrial material from...	Past
	Stardust-NExT STARDUST-NExT - short for “New Exploration of Tempel-1” is a follow-on mission for STARDUST This mission is part of SMD's Discovery...	Operating
19660530 May 29, 1966	Surveyor Surveyor succeeded the Ranger program. Its primary focus was engineering work in preparation for Apollo, specifically soft landings and lifting off from the moon's...	Past
19750820 August 20, 1975	Viking 1 - 2 Two Viking spacecraft, each composed of an orbiter and a lander, flew to Mars in the mid 1970's. They measured atmospheric water vapor, did chemical analysis of the soil, and...	Past

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Planets Missions (47)