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From: [email protected] (Jon Leech)
Newsgroups: sci.space.tech,sci.space.science,sci.answers,news.answers
Subject: Space FAQ 09/13 - Upcoming Planetary Probes
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Date: 17 Sep 1996 15:54:42 -0400
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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Last-modified: $Date: 96/09/17 15:40:30 $

Compilation copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 by Jonathan P. Leech. This
document may be redistributed in its complete and unmodified form. Other
use requires written permission of the author.

UPCOMING PLANETARY PROBES - MISSIONS AND SCHEDULES

Information on upcoming or currently active missions not mentioned below
would be welcome. Sources: NASA fact sheets, Cassini Mission Design
team, ISAS/NASDA launch schedules, press kits, agency Web pages.

Information on past, present, and future missions may be found on the
Web starting at

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/projects.html (All missions)
http://www.estec.esa.nl/spdwww/ (ESA missions)
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/NASA/research.html (NASA missions)
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mip/planet.html (JPL missions)
http://www.isas.ac.jp/info/index-e.html (ISAS missions)

ADEOS - Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (NASDA). Launched August 16,
1996 on an H-II booster. ADEOS will study the Earth's surface and
atmosphere to acquire data on worldwide environmental changes. Includes
a JPL-developed instrument to measure ocean surface winds. See

http://hdsn.eoc.nasda.go.jp/

ASCA (ASTRO-D) - Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics
(ISAS). ASCA is an X-ray astronomy satellite launched into Earth orbit
on 2/20/93. Equipped with large-area wide-wavelength (1-20 Angstrom)
X-ray telescope, X-ray CCD cameras, and imaging gas scintillation
proportional counters.

CASSINI/HUYGENS - Saturn orbiter and Titan atmosphere probe. A joint
NASA/ESA project designed to accomplish an exploration of the Saturnian
system with its Cassini Saturn Orbiter and Huygens Titan Probe. Cassini
is scheduled for launch aboard a Titan IV/Centaur in October of 1997.
After gravity assists of Venus, Earth and Jupiter in a VVEJGA
trajectory, the spacecraft will arrive at Saturn in June of 2004. Upon
arrival, the Cassini spacecraft performs several maneuvers to achieve an
orbit around Saturn. Near the end of this initial orbit, the Huygens
Probe separates from the Orbiter and descends through the atmosphere of
Titan. The Orbiter relays the Probe data to Earth for about 3 hours
while the Probe enters and traverses the cloudy atmosphere to the
surface. After the completion of the Probe mission, the Orbiter
continues touring the Saturnian system for three and a half years. Titan
synchronous orbit trajectories will allow about 35 flybys of Titan and
targeted flybys of Iapetus, Dione and Enceladus. The objectives of the
mission are threefold: conduct detailed studies of Saturn's atmosphere,
rings and magnetosphere; conduct close-up studies of Saturn's
satellites, and characterize Titan's atmosphere and surface.

One of the most intriguing aspects of Titan is the possibility that its
surface may be covered in part with lakes of liquid hydrocarbons that
result from photochemical processes in its upper atmosphere. These
hydrocarbons condense to form a global smog layer and eventually rain
down onto the surface. The Cassini orbiter will use onboard radar to
peer through Titan's clouds and determine if there is liquid on the
surface. Experiments aboard both the orbiter and the entry probe will
investigate the chemical processes that produce this unique atmosphere.

The Cassini mission is named for Jean Dominique Cassini (1625-1712), the
first director of the Paris Observatory, who discovered several of
Saturn's satellites and the major division in its rings. The Titan
atmospheric entry probe is named for the Dutch physicist Christiaan
Huygens (1629-1695), who discovered Titan and first described the true
nature of Saturn's rings.

Key Scheduled Dates for the Cassini Mission (VVEJGA Trajectory)
-------------------------------------------------------------
10/06/97 - Titan IV/Centaur Launch
04/21/98 - Venus 1 Gravity Assist
06/20/99 - Venus 2 Gravity Assist
08/16/99 - Earth Gravity Assist
12/30/00 - Jupiter Gravity Assist
06/25/04 - Saturn Arrival
01/09/05 - Titan Probe Release
01/30/05 - Titan Probe Entry
06/25/08 - End of Primary Mission
(Schedule last updated 7/22/92)

See

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mip/cassini.html

CLEMENTINE - Joint mission of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization
(formerly SDIO) and NASA to flight test sensors developed by Lawrence
Livermore for BMDO. The spacecraft, built by the Naval Research Lab, was
launched on January 25, 1994 to a 425 km by 2950 km orbit of the Moon
for a 2 month mapping mission. Instruments onboard include UV to mid-IR
imagers, including an imaging lidar that may be able to also obtain
altimetric data for the middle latitudes of the Moon. In May 1994 the
spacecraft was sent out of Lunar orbit towards a flyby of the asteroid
Geographos, but a malfunction in the onboard computer system resulted in
loss of all attitude control fuel and inability to complete the mission.

Clementine imagery and other data may be obtained from

http://clementine.s1.gov/
http://www.nrl.navy.mil/clementine/

CLUSTER - ESA project using four spacecraft to study the Earth's plasma
environment. The Ariane 5 booster failed shortly after launch on June 4,
1996 and the mission was lost.

EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM (EOS) - Multiple orbiting platforms to provide
long-term data of Earth systems science including planetary evolution.
Platform launches are scheduled throughout the late 1990s. More info in
in the sci.geo.eos FAQ, or

http://spso2.gsfc.nasa.gov/spso_homepage.html

GALILEO - Jupiter orbiter and atmosphere probe. Galileo was launched
from the Space Shuttle on October 18, 1989 into a complex trajectory
making use of gravity assists from Venus and (twice) the Earth to gain
enough energy to reach Jupiter. The High Gain Antenna failed to deploy
despite repeated attempts; A combination of data compression on the
spacecraft and enhancements to the receiving antennas in the Deep Space
Network should allow Galileo to achieve the majority 70% of its original
science objectives using the much lower speed Low Gain Antenna. Longterm
Jovian weather monitoring, which is imagery intensive, will suffer the
most.

Galileo return the first resolved images of asteroids, Gaspra and Ida,
while in transit to Jupiter. It arrived in Jupiter orbit on December 7,
1995. The atmospheric probe mission was successful and its data has been
returned to Earth. Several satellite encounters have been completed and
the mission is continuing.

Galileo Orbital Tour Schedule
-----------------------------
12/95 - 10/97 - Orbital Tour of Jovian Moons
06/26/96 - Ganymede-1
09/06/96 - Ganymede-2
11/04/96 - Callisto-3
11/06/96 - Europa-3A
12/19/96 - Europa-4
01/20/97 - Europa-5A
02/20/97 - Europa-6
04/04/97 - Europa-7A
04/05/97 - Ganymede-7
05/06/97 - Callisto-8A
05/07/97 - Ganymede-8
06/25/97 - Callisto-9
06/26/97 - Ganymede-9A
09/17/97 - Callisto-10
11/06/97 - Europa-11

See

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/

HITEN (MUSES-A) - Japanese (ISAS) lunar probe launched 1/24/90. Made
multiple lunar flybys and released Hagoromo, a smaller satellite, into
lunar orbit. This mission made Japan the third nation to orbit a
satellite around the Moon. Hiten impacted the lunar surface on 4/10/93.

INFRARED SPACE OBSERVATORY (ISO) - ESA space telescope, launched
11/17/95. Instruments include an imaging photopolarimeter, camera, and
two spectroscopes. See

http://isowww.estec.esa.nl/

MAGELLAN - Venus radar mapping mission. Mapped almost the entire surface
at high resolution and compiled a global gravity map. Magellan ended its
extended mission in October 12, 1994 during an aerobraking experiment
which (intentionally) caused entry into the Venusian atmosphere. See

http://newproducts.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/

MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR - A replacement mission to achieve most of the
goals of the failed Mars Observer mission, to be launched by a Delta 2
booster in November 1996. See

http://mgs-www.jpl.nasa.gov/

MARS OBSERVER - Mars orbiter including 1.5 m/pixel resolution camera.
Launched 9/25/92 on a Titan III/TOS booster. Contact was lost with MO on
8/21/93 while it was preparing for entry into Mars orbit. The spacecraft
has been written off. See

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mip/mars.html

MARS PATHFINDER - Mars lander and microrover to perform technology,
science and engineering experiments on the Martian Surface. To be
launched by a Delta 2 booster in December 1996. See

http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/

NEAR - Discovery-class mission to rendezvous with near-Earth asteroid
Eros in February, 1999. Launched 2/17/96 on a Delta II booster. NEAR
will flyby the asteroid Mathilde in June, 1997 and orbit Eros for at
least one year to conduct the first comprehensive measurements of an
asteroid's mass, structure, geology, mineral composition, and gravity
and magnetic fields. See

http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/NEAR/

SOLAR AND HELISPHERIC OBSERVATORY (SOHO) - Joint ESA/NASA mission to
study the Sun's internal structure. Launched 12/2/95 into a "halo orbit"
1.5 million km sunward from Earth. See

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/

TOPEX/Poseidon - Joint US/French Earth observing satellite, launched
8/10/92 on an Ariane 4 booster. The primary objective of the
TOPEX/POSEIDON project is to make precise and accurate global
observations of the sea level for several years, substantially
increasing understanding of global ocean dynamics. The satellite also
will increase understanding of how heat is transported in the ocean. See

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mip/topex.html

ULYSSES - European Space Agency probe to study the Sun from an orbit
over its poles. Launched in late 1990 from the Space Shuttle using a
two-stage IUS booster, it carries particles-and-fields experiments (such
as magnetometer, ion and electron collectors for various energy ranges,
plasma wave radio receivers, etc.) but no camera.

Since no human-built rocket is hefty enough to send Ulysses far out of
the ecliptic plane, it went to Jupiter instead, and stole energy from
that planet by sliding over Jupiter's north pole in a gravity-assist
manuver in February 1992. This bent its path into a solar orbit tilted
about 85 degrees to the ecliptic. It will pass over the Sun's south pole
in the summer of 1994. Its aphelion is 5.2 AU, and, surprisingly, its
perihelion is about 1.5 AU-- that's right, a solar-studies spacecraft
that's always further from the Sun than the Earth is!

While in Jupiter's neigborhood, Ulysses studied the magnetic and
radiation environment. For a short summary of these results, see
*Science*, V. 257, p. 1487-1489 (11 September 1992). For gory technical
detail, see the many articles in the same issue. Also see

http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov/

OTHER SPACE SCIENCE MISSIONS (various sources; corrections and updates
are solicited, and primary sources on the Web are likely to be more
accurate. Launch dates are tentative; most shuttle missions are not
listed even when they have some science content).

1997
o VSOP (VLBI Space Observatory Program) [Jan/Feb, M-V, NASDA]
NASA is building 3 specialized tracking stations to record the
wideband radioastronomy data that this spacecraft will produce.
See

http://www.vsop.isas.ac.jp/VSOP.html

o ISELA [International Space Enterprises/Lavochkin Association]
Commercial proposal to land a rover on the Moon in the vicinity
of the Apollo 11 site, followed by 3-6 months of exploration.
Contact Tom Kessler ([email protected]) of ISE for details.

o LUNAR-A [ISAS]
Multiple penetrator mission to study the crust structure and
thermal construction of the moon's interior.

o RADIOASTRON [RSA]
Same purpose as VSOP. NRAO is building similar ground stations
for tracking. These two spacecraft will coobserve radio sources
in conjunction with ground based VLBA radio telescopes.

1998
o MARS SURVEYOR 98 [December/January, Delta II, NASA]
Separate orbiter and lander missions continuing the Mars
Surveyor program. See

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mip/msurv.html
http://www.msss.com/mars/surveyor/ms98.html

o PLANET-B [ISAS]
Mars orbiter to observe interaction between Martian atmosphere
and the solar wind.

o WIDE-FIELD INFRARED EXPLORER (WIRE) [September, NASA]
Small Explorer mission to survey starburst galaxies, where star
formation is taking place at a high rate. See

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mip/wire.html

1999
o ASTRO-E [ISAS]
High resonance and sensitivity X-ray astronomy. See

http://www.astro.isas.ac.jp/xray/mission/astroe/astroeE.html

o STARDUST [NASA]
Discovery-class mission to rendezvous with comet P/Wild 2.
Stardust will collect cometary dust and volatiles as well as
interstellar dust, returning samples to Earth in 2006. See

http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/

o X-RAY MULTI MIRROR MISSION (XMM) [ESA]
High-throughput x-ray spectroscopy satellite. See

http://astro.estec.esa.nl/XMM/xmm.html

2001
o INTERNATIONAL GAMMA RAY ASTROPHYSICS OBSERVATORY (INTEGRAL) [ESA]
Fine spectroscopy and accurate imaging of celestial gamma-ray
sources in the 15 KeV - 10 MeV range. See

http://astro.estec.esa.nl/SA-general/Projects/Integral/integral.html

o MUSES-C [ISAS]
Asteroid rendezvous and sample return.

o PLUTO EXPRESS [Molniya or Delta, joint NASA/RSA]
Dual flyby/atmosphere probe mission for low-cost initial
reconnaissance of the Pluto-Charon system. Encounter ~2013.
Proposed new start in FY 1998. See

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pluto/

o SPACE INFRARED TELESCOPE FACILITY (SIRTF) [Shuttle, NASA]
Fourth element of the Great Observatories program. A free-flying
observatory with a lifetime of 5 to 10 years, it will observe
new comets and other primitive bodies in the outer solar system,
study cosmic birth formation of galaxies, stars and planets and
distant infrared-emitting galaxies. See

http://sirtf.jpl.nasa.gov/sirtf/home.html

2003
o ROSETTA [ESA]
Asteroid flyby and rendezvous with comet P/Wirtanen in 2011.
After rendezvous, the spacecraft will stay with the comet along
its trajectory into the inner solar system through perihelion
(the orbital point nearest to the Sun) to study the material
that constitutes the comet, and the cometary processes that
evolve with the decreasing distance from the Sun. One or two
Surface Science Packages will be deployed onto the comet nucleus
surface to provide the means for in-situ studies of the nucleus.

2006
o FIRST (Far InfraRed Space Telescope) [ESA]
Large (3-meter mirror) space observatory with high spatial and
spectral resolution imaging in the approximately 85-900 micron
wavelength region. See

http://astro.estec.esa.nl/SA-general/Projects/First/first.html

NEXT: FAQ #10/13 - Controversial questions