to Earth Science Missions
-- data updated montly; last updated Jun. 8th, 2015; missions on that page since early 2000's --
| Missions Preparing Missions En Route | Missions Operating Past Missions |
->more about launches and missions at NASA site as their alphabetical list of missions is a useful tool too
->Check That!
Interested in having your name brought aboard a space mission, or even to give a name of yours to a one? Just think that NASA, intermittently or regularly, is allowing for contests to occur through which anyone, or some categories of people can participate and make a proposal for the name of a craft, or to have their names inscripted, or set on a whatever support aboard a mission and to be sent in space! Other spatial agencies also are proposing such opportunities
Missions Preparing(by scheduled date of launch)
| Year | Date | Name of the Mission | Purpose | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | na | SMEX | the curvature of space and light in extreme gravity environments | more |
| 2016 | na | LaRa | a lander and a rover to study Mars' interior | more |
| na | InSight | a Martian lander with a drill | more | |
| na | LCRD | a mission testing data transfer through a optical laser | more | |
| na | OSIRIS-REx | NEO observation and sampling mission | more | |
| undeterm. | na | LOLA | laser-mapping lunar orbiter (note: the mission is no longer on the NASA schedule) | more |
| 2017 | na | Solar Orbiter | A solar ESA mission | more |
| Jun. | ICON | A NASA mission studying the Earth's ionosphere | more | |
| Aug. | TESS | A NASA mission searching for exoplanets, the first all-sky survey | more | |
| 2018 | na | JWSP | next generation space telescope | more |
Missions En Route(by scheduled date of arrival)
| arrival: 2016 |
| Juno (Jupiter) |
| more |
Missions Operating(missions by order of the domain of the mission, and, in each domain, by alphabetical order; Domains, Name, Object, Ending on (in))
| Inner Planets of the Solar System | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MESSENGER | Mercury | more | Mar. 2013 E | |||
| Outer Planets of the Solar System | ||||||
| Cassini-Huygens | Saturn | more | 2017 E twice | |||
| New Horizons | first planetary ever mission at Pluto, then the Kuiper Belt | more | 2017 E twice | |||
| Mars | ||||||
| Curiosity | Mars | more | ||||
| 2001 Mars Odyssey | Mars | more | Sept. 2008 E (thrice ?) | |||
| Mars Express | Mars | more | Nov. 2005 mission partly failed late 2003 | |||
| Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter | Mars | more | E four times (the latter since 2014) | |||
| MAVEN | Mars. Atmosphere and climate history at Mars | more | ||||
| Twin Mars Exploration Rovers | Mars | more | possibly 2009 E five times | |||
| Moon | ||||||
| GRAIL | a twin craft mission exploring the Moon's interior | more | E Aug. 30 to Dec. 3, 2012 | |||
| LADEE | studies in Moon's atmosphere | more | ||||
| LRO/LCROSS | Moon mapping and water at the poles | more | at least June 2010 as far as mapping is concerned, and several more years for science surveys | |||
| Space Telescopes | ||||||
| Spitzer Space Telescope | space telescope (infrared) | more | E 2 years since 2012 | |||
| Wise | space telescope (infrared) | more | extended like the NEOWISE Post-Cryogenic Mission since summer 2010, then a mission to study NEOs since September 2013 during 3 years | |||
| Comets, Asteroids | ||||||
| DAWN | orbital mission at two minor planets | more | na | |||
| EPOXI (former Deep Impact) | impactor at comet 9P/Tempel 1, prolonged now into observing a new comet and exoplanet | more | na | |||
| Rosetta | mission and lander at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko | more | na | |||
| Sun | ||||||
| ARTEMIS | solar wind at the Moon | more | ||||
| STEREO | solar mission | more | E | |||
| SDO | solar mission | more | ||||
| Exoplanets | ||||||
| Kepler | Earth-like exoplanets search | more | E 4 years since 2012 | |||
| The Universe | ||||||
| EPOXI (former Deep Impact) | impactor at comet 9P/Tempel 1, prolonged now into observing a new comet and exoplanet | more | na | |||
| GLAST or FERMI | space telescope (gamma rays; studying the black holes) | more | E since mid-2013 | |||
| NuSTAR | space telescope (studying the black holes and supernovae in the X-rays) | more | E two years since August 2014 | |||
| Swift | Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) | more | 2006 | |||
| Earth Environment | ||||||
| AIM | noctilucent clouds | more | 2009 | |||
| DSCOVR | a NOAA satellite monitoring space weather | more | ||||
| IBEX | study of the termination shock at the heliosphere | more | na | |||
| IRIS | study of the solar chromosphere | more | na | |||
| MMS | 4 satellites studying the magnetosphere | more | na | |||
| RBSP | study of the Earth's Van Allen radiation belts | more | na | |||
| Themis | Northern lights | more | na | |||
| "E" stands for an extended mission (data available randomly only) | ||||||
Past Missions(missions by reversed order of mission's end)
| Mission's end | Name | Object | Date of launch | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2013 | GALEX | space telescope in the ultraviolet | April 2003 | more |
| March 24th, 2011 | Stardust, Stardust-NExT | comets | early 1999 | more |
| September 8th, 2010 | WMAP | cosmology | June 2001 | more |
| June 2010 | TRACE | solar mission | Apr. 1st, 1998 | more |
| June 16th, 2010 | Hayabusa (former Muses-C) | asteroid sample | May, 9th, 2003 | more |
| May 2010 | Phoenix | polar Martian lander | Aug. 4th, 2007 | more |
| June 29th, 2009 | Ulysses | the solar activity | 1990 | more |
| second semester of 2006 | Mars Global Surveyor | Mars | November 7th, 1996 | more |
| Sept. 2006 | SMART-1 | Moon via an ion engine | overnight September, 27th-28th 2003 | more |
| Jun. 30, 2006 | Space Technology 5 (ST5) Project Telescope | mission testing next-generation techniques (infrared) | Mar. 22, 2006 | more |
| Sept. 2005 | Gravity Probe-B | Einstein test | Apr. 19, 2004 | more |
| Sept. 8, 2004 | Genesis | collecting solar wind material | Apr. 8, 2001 | more |
Interested in failed missions? see a list
Website Manager: G. Guichard, site 'Amateur Astronomy,' http://stars5.6te.net. Page Editor: G. Guichard. last edited: 4/7/2015. contact us at geguicha@outlook.com