Unmanned space mission : Unmanned space missions

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.

Most 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):

Early Earth-orbital missions

Sputnik program, 1957 - Earth orbit.
Explorer program, 1958 - Earth orbit.
Vanguard program, 1959 - Earth orbit.

Earth observation satellites

Communication satellites

Lunar exploration

Luna program, 1959 - Lunar exploration.
Lunokhod program - unmanned Lunar Rover probes.
Zond program - unmanned Lunar exploration.
Ranger program - Lunar hard-landing probes.
Surveyor program - Lunar soft-landing probe.
Lunar Orbiter program - Lunar orbital.
Clementine mission[?] - Lunar orbital (1998).

Solar System exploration

Mars probe program.
Venera program - Venus orbital and landing.
Vega program - Venus and Comet Halley
Pioneer Venus project - Venus orbital and landing.
Mariner program - Mercury, Venus and Mars[?], flyby and orbital.
Viking program - Mars orbiter and lander (1974).
Mars Pathfinder - Mars lander and wheeled robot (1996)
Mars Climate Orbiter[?].
Mars Odyssey.
Mars Polar Lander[?].
Viking program - Mars lander.
Pioneer program - Juptier and Saturn flyby.
Voyager program - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune flyby.
Giotto mission - Flyby of the Halley comet (1986).
Galileo probe - Jupiter orbiter and "lander".
Magellan probe - Venus orbiter
Cassini program - Saturn orbiter and Titan lander Huygens[?].
NEAR Shoemaker - asteroid lander, launched 1996.
Deep Space 1 - comet/asteroid flyby, 1998-2000.
CONTOUR - planned comet flyby

External link

http://sci.esa.int/home/ourmissions/index.cfm

Common misspelling and questions (FAQ)

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Original source @ wikipedia.