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Past
Solar System
Missions
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Deep Space 1
Launch: October 24, 1998
Unlike missions focused on science investigations, Deep Space 1 was a spacecraft designed to flight-test new technologies -- including an ion engine that could power solar system explorers of the future. With its primary mission successfully completed, the craft went on an extended mission and flew by comet Borrelly in September 2001, taking the best pictures ever of a comet's nucleus.
+ Overview
› Deep Space 1 home page
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Galileo to Jupiter
Launch: October 18, 1989
Upon arrival at Jupiter in December 1995, the Galileo spacecraft delivered a probe that descended into the giant planet's atmosphere. The orbiter then 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.
+ Overview
› Galileo home page
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Genesis
Launch: August 8, 2001
Genesis collected samples of charged particles in the solar wind and returned them to Earth in September 2004. Although the capsule's parachutes did not deploy, scientists expect to be able to achieve most of their science objectives with samples recovered from the capsule.
+ Overview
› Genesis home page
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Magellan to Venus
Launch: May 4, 1989
This orbiter used imaging radar to map 99 percent of the surface of Venus over four years. After concluding its radar mapping, Magellan made global maps of Venus's gravity field. Flight controllers also tested a new maneuvering technique called aerobraking, which uses a planet's atmosphere to slow or steer a spacecraft.
+ Overview
› Archived Magellan site
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Mariner 1-2 to Venus
Mariner 1 launch: July 22, 1962
Mariner 2 launch: August 27, 1962
Mariner 2 became the first spacecraft to fly by another planet, studying Venus' atmosphere and surface. During its journey to Earth's neighbor, the craft made the first-ever measurements of the solar wind.
+ Overview
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Mariner 10 to Venus and Mercury
Launch: November 3, 1973
With the scorched inner planet of Mercury as its ultimate target, the Mariner 10 spacecraft pioneered the use of a "gravity assist" swing by Venus to bend its flight path.
+ Overview
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Mariner 3-4 to Mars
Mariner 3 launch: November 5 1964
Mariner 4 launch: November 28, 1964
Mariner 4 collected the first close-up photos of another planet when it flew by Mars. As it passed the planet it revealed lunar-type impact craters, some of them touched with frost in the chill Martian evening.
+ Overview
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Mariner 5 to Venus
Launch: June 14, 1967
Originally a backup Mars craft, Mariner 5 was redirected to Venus, flying within 4,000 kilometers (approximately 2,500 miles) of that planet.
+ Overview
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Mariner 6-7 to Mars
Mariner 6 launch: February 24, 1969
Mariner 7 launch: February 27, 1969
Mariner 6 and 7 completed the first dual mission to Mars, flying past the equator and south polar regions and analyzing the Martian atmosphere and surface with remote sensors.
+ Overview
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Mariner 8-9 to Mars
Mariner 8 launch: May 8, 1971
Mariner 9 launch: May 30, 1971
Mariner 9 was the first artificial satellite of Mars, orbiting the planet for nearly a year. It revealed a very different planet than expected -- one that boasted gigantic volcanoes and an immense canyon stretching 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) across its surface.
+ Overview
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Mars Global Surveyor
Launch: November 7,1996
This orbiter studied the entire Martian surface, atmosphere and interior, and has returned more data about the red planet than all previous Mars missions combined. Among key science findings so far, Global Surveyor took pictures of gullies and debris flow features that suggest there may be current sources of liquid water, similar to an aquifer, at or near the surface of the planet.
+ Overview
› Surveyor home page
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Mars Pathfinder
Launch: December 4, 1996
Mars Pathfinder, consisting of a lander and the Sojourner rover, returned an unprecedented amount of data as they explored an ancient flood plain in Mars' northern hemisphere known as Ares Vallis.
+ Overview
› Archived Pathfinder site
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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 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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Pioneer 3-4
Pioneer 3 Launch: December 6, 1958
Pioneer 4 Launch: March 3, 1959
Pioneer 3 and 4 were early satellites designed to be lofted toward the Moon. Pioneer 4 successfully passed within 60,000 kilometers (37,300 miles) of the Moon and is now orbiting the Sun, the first U.S. spacecraft placed in solar orbit.
+ Overview
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Surveyors to the Moon
Launches: 1966-1968
The Surveyor missions were the first U.S. efforts to make soft landings on the Moon. Most were successful and the Surveyor series acquired almost 90,000 images from five lunar sites.
+ 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 spacecraft, which operated for more than 18 years, ceased operations on June 30, 2009.
+ Overview
› Ulysses home page
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Viking to Mars
Viking 1 Launch: August 20, 1975
Viking 2 Launch: September 9, 1975
The Viking project was the first mission to land a spacecraft safely on the surface of another planet. Two identical craft each had an orbiter and a lander; both orbiter-lander pairs successfully studied Mars.
+ Overview
› Mars exploration
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