In This Lesson:
Unit 5
Unmanned
Spaceflight
(Lesson 1 of 2)
Today is Monday,
June 8th, 2015
Pre-Class:
Big-time rockets got their start in WWII, doing what?
Also you need a small paper towel for you/your partner.
http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/sputnik-1-launch-ria-novosti.jpg
The launch of Sputnik I.
Today’s Agenda
• The early days of the space program.
• The Space Race.
– Soviets vs. Americans!
• Unmanned spacecraft.
– Not necessarily “undogged” or “unaped,” though.
• Current and past missions all over the place.
• Where is this in my book?
– Erm…nowhere?
By the end of this lesson…
• You should be able to narrate a brief history of
the space programs in the United States,
Soviet Union, and Germany.
• You should be able to identify unmanned
space programs that have explored other
planets and our own.
The Big Disclaimer
• Humanity has made a lot of progress in what has been
a very brief entry into the space age.
– Think about it – we finally got to space in the 1940s and not
even 100 years later we’ve got stuff leaving the solar system.
• This is a summary of some of the most notable
advances and missions, but certainly is far from a
complete record – impossible to do here.
• The most important missions – the ones you need to
know for a quiz – will be summarized on your
Unmanned Spaceflight Guided Notes sheet.
Spaceflight’s Infancy
• It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the space
age really began.
– You could make a case it was with Sputnik I in
1957.
– You could make a case it was with the Wright
Brothers in 1903.
– You might even cite the first rockets, launched in
the 13th century.
• We’ll start with a rather humble beginning in
Auburn, Massachusetts, in 1926.
Spaceflight’s Infancy
• On March 16, 1926, Robert Goddard
launched the first liquid-fueled rocket.
– Previous rockets had used gunpowder as
fuel.
– His went 41 feet up, lasting two seconds.
• Soon, he amassed 214 patents and is
now considered the father of modern
rocketry.
– He also was the first to convincingly content
that rockets could function in vacuums, like
space.
– The Goddard Space Flight Center in MD is
named for him.
• Rocket Experiments by Dr. Robert H Goddard
1926-1945 video
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Dr._Robert_H._Goddard_-_GPN-2002-000131.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/f_goddard.html
http://www.phy6.org/stargaze/Sfigs/SGoddard.jpg
Theodore von Kármán
• Von Kármán was Hungarian-born
but German-raised but emigrated
to the U.S. in 1930 as Nazism was
on the rise.
• Like Goddard, he too worked with
liquid-fueled rockets.
• His test area in Pasadena, CA, soon
became the grounds of NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
http://www.astronautix.com/graphics/w/wvonkarm.jpg
Meanwhile, somewhere in the USSR…
• Goddard’s Soviet counterpart was
Valentin Glushko, who fired the
first liquid-fueled rocket in the
USSR in the 1930s.
• He would go on to be the principal
rocket designer for the Soviet
space program, working with
Sergei Korolev as the two drivers
behind the Soviet “team.”
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/200px-Glushko_Valentin_Petrovich.jpg
Sergei Korolev
• Sergei Korolev headed the Soviet
space program and is responsible
for most of the designs used even
today by the Russians.
• Notably, he improved on the
original designs of the German V2
missile to ultimately make Soviet
rockets.
– And speaking of Germans with V2s…
https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/space-race/online/sec300img/322l1p1.jpg
Wernher von Braun
• Wernher von Braun was a German
(read: Nazi) rocket scientist,
responsible for developing the V2
ballistic missile.
– The V1 (flying bomb) and V2 were
launched toward England toward the
end of World War II.
• He and 500 of his scientists
surrendered to the Americans.
– To avoid these scientists taking their
knowledge to the Soviet Union, the
United States welcomed them
through Operation Paperclip.
• Yep, naturally the “scientist rescue”
mission gets a dorky name.
http://beforeitsnews.com/contributor/upload/30080/images/op.png
http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/bio.html
The V2 Missile
• The V2 missile was the
world’s first long-range
guided missile.
• After von Braun’s surrender,
he/the U.S. began testlaunching V2 rockets in New
Mexico.
– …and Germany’s space
program ended.
– Later, von Braun would
develop the Redstone and
Jupiter missiles in Alabama.
• V2 Missiles video
• V2 Missile Failures video
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/09/10/1410356401917_wps_1_V2_rock
et.jpg
The First Photo From Space
• From those test launches came the first photo taken
from space, aboard a U.S.-launched V2 rocket in
1946:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/First_photo_from_space.jpg
Animals in Space
• With the ultimate goal of human spaceflight, the
United States and USSR soon began launching
animals into space.
• To date, nations of the world have sent a lot of
animals into space and have recovered some:
– Dogs and cats
– Monkeys and apes [Iran
Space Monkey video]
– Rabbits
– Insects and insect eggs
– Fish
–
–
–
–
–
–
Frogs
Mice, rats, and guinea pigs
Newts
Shrimp
Spiders
Nematodes
Getting Into Space
• Keep one thing in mind here:
– There’s getting into space, and then there’s getting
into orbit.
• It’s easier to get into space.
• On February 20, 1947, the U.S. launched the
first living creatures into space: fruit flies,
aboard a V2 rocket.
– Their capsule was ejected and they were
recovered alive.
Albert I
• The next animal to be launched toward space
was Albert I, a rhesus monkey (there were
four Alberts launched; all but one was a
rhesus monkey).
– Albert died of suffocation during the mission – he
never quite made it to space.
• Alberts II, III, and IV were also all lost.
– Albert II died on impact after a parachute failure.
• Albert II was the first monkey to reach space.
– Albert III died when the V2 exploded at 35,000 ft.
– Albert IV died on impact after a parachute failure.
Other U.S. Early Launches
• The U.S. went on to launch a few other
animals to space in the late 1940s and early
1950s:
– A monkey named Yorick was the first to survive
the flight in September, 1951, along with 11 mice.
– Two monkeys named Patricia and Mike were
launched along with two mice (Mildred and
Albert) – they also survived.
• Meanwhile, somewhere in the USSR…
Early USSR Launches
• The Soviet Union began launching animals too:
– Mice, rats, and rabbits were launched on one-way
trips in the early 1950s.
– Nine dogs were launched between 1951 and 1952:
• Of the twelve dogs to fly (counting three of them twice),
at least four did not return alive.
• And then…Sputnik happened.
– Remember what I said about getting into space
versus getting into orbit?
Sputnik 1
• Back on April 15, 1955, President Eisenhower
stated that the U.S. would be launching the
satellite.
– Soon after, the Soviets announced the same thing.
• In the U.S., the political climate prohibited von
Braun from using military-grade missiles for a
peaceful mission, so he had to work with Project
Vanguard.
– Project Vanguard was the U.S. Navy’s attempt at a
launch vehicle in lieu of von Braun’s Project Orbiter.
Sputnik 1
• In the Soviet Union, there was no such limit
for Korolev.
– He used the most powerful rocket available and
formally began the space age when Sputnik 1
orbited Earth on October 4, 1957 (and lasted
three months in orbit).
– The sounds of Sputnik: Sputnik Telemetry
Sputnik 1 and Vanguard
• The USSR scored the first victory of the space race,
while the U.S. suddenly looked militarily weak.
• On November 3, 1957, the even-heavier Sputnik 2 was
launched (more on the next slide), and the U.S. was
very quickly losing ground.
• On December 6, 1957, the U.S. finally launched their
first rocket, Vanguard TV3 (test vehicle 3).
– Here’s what happened… (video)
• It wasn’t until January 31, 1958, that the U.S. used a
Juno I rocket to launch Explorer 1, our first satellite.
– Its batteries died May 23, but it orbited until March 31, 1970.
Laika and Sputnik 2
• Laika became the first animal to reach
Earth’s orbit on November 3, 1957.
– It was a one-way trip by design.
• Sputnik 2 remained in orbit for five months
and 2570 orbits until disintegrating during
reentry.
– Initially, Soviet authorities reported she had
lived for about a week before being
euthanized through poisoned food.
– In 2002, documents revealed she had died
only hours into flight due to stress and
overheating.
• Said a scientist of the program in 1998: “We did
not learn enough from this mission to justify the
death of the dog.”
• In reference to taking her home to play with
children before launch: “I wanted to do something
nice for her: She had so little time left to live.”
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Laika.jpg
Laika
http://telstarlogistics.typepad.com/telstarlogistics/images/2008/04/11/laika.jpg
http://www.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/5A44716E-75DB-4DE7-B6677FF1827D462D.jpg
Sputnik and Worldwide Panik
• As we’ve discussed before, the launch of
Sputnik caused worldwide (though mostly
U.S.) panic:
– Movietone Sputnik Newsreel
• Fox News now owns all Movietone newsreels, hence
the logo.
– Sputnik 2 Panic
• Watch VP Nixon get verbally wrecked by Khrushchev in
1959.
• Note that the moving images of the dog are not of Laika
but of Belka (more in a second).
Belka and Strelka
• Belka and Strelka spent a day in
orbit and returned alive in
August, 1960 as part of the
Korabl-Sputnik 3 mission (AKA
Sputnik 6 to the West).
Belka (left) and Strelka (right)
– images were sent back from
their capsule (below).
– They were accompanied by 42
mice, 2 rats, flies, plants, and
fungi – all survived.
• A puppy of Strelka was given to
President Kennedy’s daughter.
http://images.csmonitor.com/csmarchives/2010/08/0820-soviet-space-dogs.jpg?alias=standard_600x400
http://www.cold-war-sputnik-soviet-space-dog-laika.com/sitebuilder/images/Belka_Strelka_TV_from_orbit_aug22-1960-698x497.jpg
Belka and Strelka
http://sputniknews.com/
Other Primates in Space
• The U.S. went on to launch a
bunch of mice and then starting
including primates.
• Notable simi-astronauts include:
Gordo
Able and Baker
Baker
Sam
– Gordo (squirrel monkey)
• Died on splashdown in late 1958.
– Able and Baker (rhesus and
squirrel monkeys, respectively)
• Survived.
– Sam (rhesus monkey)
• Survived a mid-air mission abort at
3685 mph.
http://www.cracked.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/4_monkeys.jpg
Other Primates in Space
• Chimpanzees were also launched:
– Ham (first chimp in space)
• Reached space January 31, 1961.
– Enos (first chimp in orbit)
• Reached orbit November 29, 1961.
Ham
• Maybe now is a good time to
mention that, technically,
microbes like bacteria were the
first to reach space.
Enos
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Ham_the_chimp_%28cropped%29.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Chimpanzee_Enos_before_the_flight_of_Mercury-Atlas_5.jpg
Discoveries from Animals in Space
• The earliest animal spaceflights were designed to
see if they could simply survive up there and
through the launch process.
• The use of animals then changed to research other
topics:
– Mice were used to study circadian rhythms.
• Mice adapt quickly and eat/groom normally, despite floating
around.
– Fish and tadpoles swim in loops without gravity.
– Mammals have trouble nursing.
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/9-12/features/F_Animals_in_Space_9-12.html
Back to the Space Race
• The Soviets proceeded to launch Sputnik 3 on
May 15, 1958, which measured some of the
same things Explorer 1 did.
– Van Allen Belts (of radiation), the composition of
the atmosphere…
Sputnik 3
space.skyrocket.de/img_sat/sputnik-3__1.jpg
Explorer 1
• Thing is, Sputnik 3 was a rather impressive
looking satellite compared to Explorer 1.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Explorer1.jpg
Back to the Space Race
• Current Score:
– Soviets 2 (Sputniks 1 & 2)
– Americans 0
The Luna Program
Note: The first three missions are known as Lunik and were not officially announced.
• On January 2nd, 1959, the Soviets launched Lunik 1
directly at the Moon…and missed.
– But, Lunik 1 was the first to enter heliocentric orbit.
• On September 12, 1959, Lunik 2 became the first
man-made object to land on the Moon, albeit a
crash landing.
– Soviets 3 (Unmanned hard Moon landing)
– Americans 0
• This is getting embarrassing.
Luna 3
• Luna 3, launched on October 4th, 1959, gave
humankind the first-ever view of the far side
of the Moon in a total of nine images.
Soviets: 4
Americans: 0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_space_program#/media/File:Luna_3_moon.jpg
Aside: Lunokhod
• Luna spacecraft were later used – in 1970 and
1973 – to transport Lunokhod lunar rovers.
– No other remote-controlled rover would land on
anything till the Mars Sojourner rover in 1997.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Lunokhod.jpg
(Pause for Humans in Space)
• As we’ll see next lesson, the Soviets also beat us to
getting the first human into space.
– Soviets 5
– Americans 0
• And they beat us getting the first human into orbit.
– Soviets 6
– Americans 0
• And they later beat us to the first space walk.
– Soviets 7
– Americans 0
(Pause for Other Accomplishments)
• And they later beat us to sending the first
spacecraft around the Moon and returning it
safely.
– Soviets 8
– Americans 0
• Although, the Americans were (later) the first
to send humans around the Moon.
– Soviets 8
– Americans 1 (whoo!)
Mariner
• With the U.S. losing badly in the
space race, Mariner 1 was NASA’s
attempt at being the first to Venus.
– It went off course after liftoff and was
destroyed on purpose.
• Mariner 2, launched on August 27,
1962, became the first to fly by
Venus, discovering its lack of
magnetic field and high
temperatures (among other
things).
– Soviets 8
– Americans 2
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Mariner_2_launch.jpg/200px-Mariner_2_launch.jpg
Mariner
• NASA kept the Mariner name for the first mission to
Mars.
• Mariner 3’s batteries died due to a solar panel
malfunction early in orbit.
• Mariner 4 was launched on November 28, 1964,
becoming the first to fly by the planet on July 14,
1965.
– Like Venus, Mars was also discovered to have no
significant magnetic field or atmosphere.
– It also sent back the first close-up images of the Martian
surface.
First Photo of Mars
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA14032.jpg
Surveyor
• The Americans launched Surveyor,
which was designed to make a soft
landing on the Moon.
– FYI, “hard landing” = crash; “soft
landing” = landing.
• The Surveyor project started in 1961
but Surveyor 1 wasn’t launched until
May 30, 1966, landing 63 hours, 36
minutes, and 35 seconds later.
– Proving it wasn’t made of dust so deep
it would bury a spacecraft.
• Or cheese so delicious the astronauts
wouldn’t want to leave.
• There’s just one…thing…
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/spacecraft/surveyor_beach.jpg
Luna 9
• The Soviets beat the
Americans to a soft landing
on the Moon by 4 months.
– Whomp whomp.
• Luna 9 landed on the
surface on February 3,
1966, sending back the first
images ever taken from the
surface of the Moon.
– Soviets 9
– Americans 2
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/space_missions/luna_9
First Photo from the Moon
https://lightsinthedark.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/luna9_close.jpg?w=600&h=418
Manned/Unmanned Moon Landings
Lunar Orbiter
• To prepare potential landing
sites for manned missions,
NASA launched the Lunar
Orbiter series (all 5 of them)
between August 10, 1966, and
August 1, 1967.
– Each one took photos of the lunar
surface but were all deliberately
Lunar Orbiter 3’s view of
crashed onto the surface to
the surface.
prevent interference with future
missions.
http://images.spaceref.com/news/loirp/3073_M.jpg
(Pause for Moon Landing)
Soviets: 9
Americans: 3 (Yeah! We won the space race! Go ‘murica!)
Venera and Vega
• Over a very long period (but starting with
some unsuccessful launches in 1961), the
Soviets launched a series of missions to Venus.
– Venera was an active program between 1961 and
1983, ultimately sending the first photos from
Venus’s surface in 1975.
– Vega was part of a mission to both Venus and
Halley’s Comet and released weather balloons
into Venus’s atmosphere in 1985.
First Photo from Venus
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/First_Venus.jpg
Pioneer
• The Pioneer program actually started in
1958 with Thor-Able 1 (now called
Pioneer 0), intended to orbit the Moon
with cameras.
• It exploded 73.6 seconds into launch.
Other Pioneers didn’t fare so well
either:
– Thor-Able 2 (Pioneer 1) was the first
spacecraft launched by NASA, but it didn’t
achieve escape velocity to the Moon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_1#/media/File:Pioneer_I_on_the_Launch_Pad_-_GPN-2002-000204.jpg
Pioneer 1 set to
launch on
October 11, 1958.
Pioneer
•
•
•
•
Thor-Able 3 (Pioneer 2) failed to escape Earth.
Pioneer P-1 also failed.
Pioneer P-3 also failed.
Pioneer 5 (Pioneer P-2) was successful (longrange communication was proven possible).
• Pioneer P-30 also failed.
• Pioneer P-31 also failed.
Pioneer
• Pioneer 6 through 8 are technically still active and
are orbiting the Sun.
– They’re also known as Pioneer A through C.
– Pioneer E failed during launch.
• When I say “technically,” I really mean, “NASA
last contacted Pioneer 6 on December 8, 2000.”
– Pioneer 7 and 8 were last contacted in 1995 and
1996, respectively, and Pioneer 9 (D) failed in 1983.
• And then there are Pioneer 10 and 11.
Pioneer
• Launched on March 2, 1972, and April
5, 1973, respectively, Pioneer 10 and 11
are arguably the first two deep space
probes.
– Followed by Voyager 1 and 2.
– They each had a plaque showing figures of
humans in case they were ever “found.”
• Pioneer 10 was the first to reach
Jupiter, Saturn, and the first to leave
the solar system (on June 13, 1983).
– Pioneer 11 followed about a year later.
• Pioneer 10 went inactive in 2003; 11 in
1995.
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/pioneer10-01b.html
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Pioneer_F_Plaque_Symbology_-_GPN-2000-001623.jpg
Pioneer
• Pioneer 12 and 13 were Venus orbiters.
– Also known as Pioneer Venus 1 and 2.
• Pioneer Venus 1 mapped the surface with radar
and found a valley deeper than the Grand
Canyon and a mountain higher than Mt. Everest.
– And found that the atmosphere is partially sulfuric
acid.
• Pioneer Venus 2 released three probes that
landed on the surface much like Venera.
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?Sort=Alpha&Letter=P&Alias=Pioneer%2012
Mariner 10
• The Mariner program continued:
– Mariner 5 went to Venus.
– Mariner 6 and 7 went to Mars and are now orbiting the
Sun.
– Mariner 8 went to the Atlantic Ocean (oops).
– Mariner 9 orbited Mars and is still there (till ~2022).
• Mariner 10 was launched on November 3, 1973,
and visited Venus and Mercury, mapping parts of
their surfaces.
– It’s currently orbiting the Sun.
First Image of Venus
http://www.universetoday.com/109035/mariner-10-best-venus-image-and-1st-ever-planetary-gravity-assist-40-years-ago-today/
First Image of Mercury
Photomosaic
http://www.universetoday.com/109035/mariner-10-best-venus-image-and-1st-ever-planetary-gravity-assist-40-years-ago-today/
Viking
• Viking 1 and 2 were orbiters and probes that
landed on Mars, launched only a few weeks
apart on August 20 and September 9, 1975.
– Viking 1 was the first ever to achieve a soft landing
on Mars and actually send back data.
• The Soviets beat NASA to Mars with Mars 3, but it
never sent back data.
– The Viking probes sent back some of the first onsite data about the composition of the Red Planet.
First Photos from Mars
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Mars_Viking_12a001.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Mars_Viking_12a002.png
Voyager
• Voyager 1 and 2 actually started as Mariner 11 and
12 before plans changed.
• They were launched on August 20 and September 5,
1977, respectively.
– Yep, Voyager 2 went first, but Voyager 1 passed it on the
trip.
– The planets aligned in such a way that a deep space
probe would be at an advantage.
– Despite Pioneer 10 and 11 being launched five years
earlier, both Voyagers have passed them.
• Yay gravity assists.
Voyager
• Both Voyagers visited Jupiter and Saturn.
• From there:
– Voyager 1 visited Saturn’s moon Titan and then left
the solar system.
– Voyager 2 visited Uranus and Neptune and then also
left the solar system.
• Voyager 1 is now the farthest man-made object
from Earth, currently at over 12 billion miles from
the Sun (well over 100 au).
• Where is Voyager?
– http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/where/
Voyager’s Cargo
• Both probes carry a famous
golden record of sounds
and images from Earth as
they leave the solar system
in different directions.
– It’s a 12 inch gold-plated
copper disk with a needle
and instructions for playing.
• Imagine trying to decide
what goes on that kind of a
compilation.
– One heck of a mixtape.
Wanna see/hear
what’s on it?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/The_Sounds_of_Earth_Record_Cover_-_GPN-2000-001978.jpg
Galileo
• Remember Galileo?
– The spacecraft that was deliberately crashed into Jupiter to avoid
a possible accidental crash-landing on and contamination of
Europa?
• The probe was launched on October 18, 1989, and was
deorbited on September 21, 2003.
– In between, it observed asteroids (and an asteroid with a moon), a
comet hitting Jupiter (Shoemaker-Levy 9), and the moons of
Jupiter.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/The_Galilean_satellites_%28the_four_largest_moons_of_Jupiter%29.tif
Pathfinder
• Pathfinder delivered a rover about the size of a
wagon – called Sojourner – to Mars on July 4, 1997.
– Sojourner lasted until September 27, 1997. 
http://mars.nasa.gov/MPF/ops/80839_full.jpg
Pathfinder
• You can also still buy the Hot Wheels version
on eBay:
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTMxM1gxMTkz/z/QHcAAMXQDnpTZ9rU/$_35.JPG
Cassini-Huygens
• We’ve seen the pictures from
Cassini-Huygens, which
explored Saturn and its
moons.
– The satellite is Cassini; the
lander is Huygens.
• Huygens managed to land on
Titan, one of Saturn’s moons,
and send back data/images,
which we’ve seen before.
• The probe is currently still in
operation.
http://www.dlr.de/dlr/en/Portaldata/1/Resources/Bilder/missionen/cassini/16_9/artikel_titan6.jpg
Cassini-Huygens
Earth 
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/PIA17171_full.jpg
Cassini-Huygens
Saturn’s Moon Rhea in front of the planet
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Rhea_in_front_of_Saturn.jpg
Cassini-Huygens
Mapping of Titan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PIA02146.gif
Cassini-Huygens
Titan with and without image processing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini–Huygens
Cassini-Huygens
Io passes in front of Jupiter
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/PIA02879_-_A_New_Year_for_Jupiter_and_Io.jpg
Cassini-Huygens
The Great White Spot – a storm every 30 years on Saturn
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Saturn_Storm.jpg
Spirit and Opportunity
• Launched in 2003, twin rovers
Spirit and Opportunity landed on
opposite sides of Mars in 2004 as
part of the Mars Exploration
Rover mission.
– It was quite a feat: How to Get to
Mars video.
• Opportunity continues to operate
but Spirit went out of contact in
2010.
– They were designed to last three
months, but Opportunity
continues the original mission:
look for signs of water.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Spirit_rover_tracks.jpg
Tracks from Spirit
MESSENGER
Mercury Surface Space Environment Geochemistry and Ranging
• MESSENGER was launched
on August 3, 2004, and did
by far the most mapping of
Mercury of any satellite…
– …before it was crashed into
the planet in April 2015.
• MESSENGER found that
Mercury’s core is 85% of its
radius.
– MESSENGER Probe video
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MESSENGER#/media/File:MESSENGER_-_spacecraft_at_mercury_-_atmercury_lg.jpg
MESSENGER
Image from Mercury
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/MESSENGER_-_CN0162744010M_RA_3_web.png
New Horizons
• Launched in 2006, New Horizons is the first
satellite expected to get close-up images of
Pluto.
– That should happen in July 2015.
• It will then continue to the Kuiper Belt.
• [images pending]
Deep Space Probes’ Locations
 To center of galaxy
 To center of galaxy
Phoenix
• Phoenix was a Mars lander, located near Mars’
icy north pole, launched on August 4, 2007.
• Even though it couldn’t move, it could dig 20
inches into the soil and send back an analysis.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/phoenix/collection_16/phx17062-browse.jpg
Phoenix
• It also discovered a rather curious anomaly:
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/off-topic-misc-/nasa-jpl-phoenix-mars-lander-13362.html
Mars Science Laboratory
• You might better know this mission as the
Curiosity rover, launched November 26, 2011.
• Unlike the previous rovers, Curiosity is big.
– It’s around the size of a car.
– Challenges of Getting to Mars – Curiosity’s Seven
Minutes of Terror video
• This one’s been sending back some mighty
impressive images in its quest to see if Mars
can possibly be habitable for microbes.
Rover Size Comparison
http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/science/EvolutionofRovers.jpg
Images from Curiosity
http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/images/mars-diverse-terrain-mount-sharp-msl-curiosity-rover-PIA19397.jpg
Images from Curiosity
http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/images/mars-curiosity-rover-msl-weather-station-tools-PIA19164-br2.jpg
Images from Curiosity
http://i.stack.imgur.com/pJJJq.jpg
Images from Curiosity
http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/images/Curiosity-Rover-Portrait-Mars-Mojave-Selfie-pia19142-MALHI-br2.jpg
Closure
• Now onto the manned missions.
• Some interesting closure videos:
– Space Balloon
– CB East Space Balloon
– Space Jump [Red Bull Stratos]
– LightSail