Browse Archive
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GeneSat-1
The 11-pound (5-kilogram) GeneSat-1, carrying bacteria inside a miniature laboratory, was launched on Dec. 16, 2006. The very small NASA satellite has proven that scientists can quickly design and launch a new class of inexpensive spacecraft -- and conduct significant science.
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Lunar Prospector
Launched on Jan. 6, 1998, Lunar Prospector mapped the moon’s surface composition and looked for possible deposits of polar ice, measure magnetic and gravity fields, as well as study lunar 'out gassing.' On March 5, 1998, scientists announced that Lunar Prospector's neutron spectrometer instrument had detected hydrogen at both lunar poles, which scientists theorized to be in the form of water ice.
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Leonids Flights (includes NASA Ames partnership)
Scientists have been using airborne observatories and other ground-based methods to study the annual Leonid meteor showers over the years.
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Stardust (Includes NASA Ames collaboration)
NASA's Stardust spacecraft delivered the first pristine, solid samples from outside the Earth-moon system when a capsule containing the comet materials parachuted into Utah in January 2006.
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NASA Ames Contributions to the Apollo Moon Missions
The Apollo encounter with our moon was one of the defining events of the last century.
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Pioneer-10 and Pioneer-11
Pioneer 10 was launched toward Jupiter in 1972. This spacecraft was the first one to fly to Jupiter, Saturn, the Milky Way Galaxy and stars. After Pioneer 10 emerged through the asteroid belt, Pioneer 11 was launched on a similar trajectory on April 5, 1973, like Pioneer 10, on top of an Atlas/Centaur/TE364-4 launch vehicle.
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Pioneer Venus 1, Orbiter and Multiprobe spacecraft (included NASA Ames partnership)
Pioneer Venus consisted of two spacecraft launched separately to study Venus: the orbiter and the multiprobe. The Pioneer Venus 1 orbiter was launched May 20, 1978, from the Kennedy Space Center aboard an Atlas-Centaur rocket. The Pioneer Venus multiprobe was launched on Aug. 8, 1978. It encountered Venus on Dec. 9, 1978. It consisted of five separate probes. The Sounder was released from the ‘Bus’ on Nov. 15, 1978; three small probes were released on Nov. 19, 1978.
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Galileo to Jupiter (included NASA Ames partnership)
Launched in 1989 aboard space shuttle Atlantis, Galileo explored Jupiter and its moons. Upon arrival at Jupiter in December 1995, the Galileo spacecraft delivered a probe that descended into the giant planet's atmosphere. The orbiter completed many flybys of Jupiter's major moons, reaping a variety of science discoveries. The mission ended on Sept. 21, 2003, when the spacecraft plunged into Jupiter's atmosphere.
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MARTE, Mars Analog Rio Tinto Experiment (field experiment circa 2005)
MARTE is the Spanish word for Mars. It also is an acronym that stands for the Mars Analog Rio Tinto Experiment. MARTE was three-year experiment conducted in southwestern Spain in collaboration with the Spanish Center for Astrobiology.