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Subject: Space FAQ 09/13 - Upcoming Planetary Probes
Supersedes: <new_probes_815623900@cs.unc.edu>
Date: 6 Feb 1996 21:19:08 -0500
References: <diffs_815623829@cs.unc.edu>


    Compilation copyright (c) 1994 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.esrin.esa.it/htdocs/esa/progs/science.html (ESA missions)
.http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/NASA/research.html (NASA missions)
.http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mip/planet.html (JPL missions)


    ASCA (ASTRO-D) - Japanese (ISAS) Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and
    Astrophysics. 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 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 early May 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/


    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. It arrived in Jupiter orbit on
    12/07??/95; the atmospheric probe mission was successful and its data
    has been returned to Earth. A final effort to unfurl the stuck High Gain
    Antenna will be made, although success is not expected. A combination of
    data compression on the spacecraft and enhancements to the receiving
    antennas in the Deep Space Network should allow Galileo to achieve
    approximately 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.

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


    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).

    1995
.o MUSES-B (Mu Space Engineering Satellite-B) [ISAS]
.    Conducting research on the precise mechanism of space structure
.    and in-space astronomical observations of electromagnetic waves.

    1996
.o ADEOS [NASDA]
.    Advanced Earth Observing Satellite.

.o PLANET-B [ISAS]
.    Mars orbiter to study the structure and motions of the Martian
.    atmosphere and its interaction with the solar winds.

.o CLUSTER [Ariane 5, ESA]
.    Multiple spacecraft mission to study the Earth's plasma
.    environment.

.o NEAR [February, Delta 2, NASA]
.    Discovery-class mission to rendezvous with near-Earth asteroid
.    Eros in 1998. NEAR will 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/

.o VSOP (VLBI Space Observatory Program) [NASDA]
.    Scheduled to be launched ~8/96. NASA is building 3 specialized
.    tracking stations to record the wideband radioastronomy data
.    that this spacecraft will produce.

.o MARS PATHFINDER [November, Delta 2, NASA]
.    Lander and microrover to perform technology, science and
.    engineering experiments on the Martian Surface. See

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

    1997
.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 (tomkessler@aol.com) of ISE for details.

.o LUNAR-A [ISAS]
.    Elucidating the crust structure and thermal construction of the
.    moon's interior.

.o RADIOASTRON [RSA]
.    Same purpose as 1996 VSOP mission. 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 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 X-RAY MULTI MIRROR MISSION (XMM) [ESA]
.    High-throughput x-ray spectroscopy satellite.

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

    2001
       o INTERNATIONAL GAMMA RAY 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 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 Schwassmann-Wachmann 3
.    in mid-2010. 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. A Surface
.    Science Package will be deployed onto the comets' nucleus
.    surface to provide the means for in-situ studies of the nucleus.

    2005
.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

    Proposed Missions:

.o Clementine II
.    Preliminary studies for a Clementine II mission have been done
.    by JPL, APL, and NRL, envisioning multiple asteroid or
.    asteroid/comet encounters. Not funded.

.o Hermes [JPL]
.    Mercury orbiter to map planet at 1 km resolution; possible
.    launc in 1999. Not funded.

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

NEXT: FAQ #10/13 - Controversial questions
