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Current
Solar System
Missions
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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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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 mission will update the data gathered in 2005 on Tempel 1 by the Deep Impact mission. Prior to its tasking for Tempel 1, the Stardust spacecraft successfully flew through the cloud of dust that surrounds the nucleus of comet Wild 2 in Jan. 2004. The particles of cometary material and gathered during this flyby where then returned to Earth aboard a sample return capsule which landed in the Utah desert in January 2006.
+ Overview
› Stardust-NExT home page
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Moon Mineralogy Mapper
Launch: Oct. 22, 2008
The JPL-managed Moon Mineralogy Mapper is one of two instruments that NASA is contributing to India's first mission to the moon. The instrument is a state-of-the-art high spectral resolution imaging spectrometer that will characterize and map the mineral composition of the moon. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper is aboard Chandrayaan-1.
› Instrument home page
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Microwave Instrument on the Rosetta Orbiter
Launch: March 2, 2004
The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft will rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014. While Rosetta orbits the comet, JPL's Microwave Instrument onboard the spacecraft will study gases given off by the comet. In addition, a package of instruments will set down and study the surface of the comet.
+ Overview
› Rosetta 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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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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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Launch: June 18, 2009
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, will conduct investigations that will prepare and support future human exploration of the moon. Onboard is the JPL-built Diviner instrument.
+ Overview
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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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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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