Monday, January 18, 2010

Space Science Missions 1/2010

[Update: new and improved versions here and here]

Here is an updated version of the last list/chart with updated positions, WISE now launched and beginning its all-sky infrared survey, ICE' position confirmed (~50° trailing) and links reformated and updated.

Remarkably, it looks like no mission ended or was lost since the last post. A couple of new future missions are added, slated to launch this year are SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory), the Russian RadioAstron radio observatory, the Indian high energy astronomy mission Astrosat, the Japanese Akatsuki Venus mission with IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) sharing the launch and the second Chinese Moon orbiter Chang'e 2. Launch dates are of course subject to further revision.

It seems that Nozomi, the failed japanese Mars mission of 1998, while deactivated, could theoretically be switched on again. The same is true for Pioneer 6 & 8, which are also coasting in a heliocentric orbit.

With the addition of MAXI (Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image) to the Japanese KIBO Lab, the ISS is finally doing space science, and this will only get better with the launch of AMS 2 (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer) later this year.

As for the inclusion of Earth missions, they are constrained to those that treat the Earth as an astronomical body. This is of course completely my own arbitrary definition and includes at this time all missions that explore the terrestial magnetosphere and gravity field.


Click for larger image

Space Observatories

Cosmology
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP, Microwave Background) 2001
Planck (Microwave Background) 2009
LISA Pathfinder (Gravity Waves) 2011
Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA, Gravity Waves) 2018

Radio & Submillimeter
Herschel (Microwave) 2009
RadioAstron (Radio) 2010
VSOP-2 (Astro-G, Radio) 2012
Millimetron (Microwave) 2016

Infrared
Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) 2003
Akari (Astro-F) 2006
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, Astrometric Survey) 2009
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) 2014

(Near) Optical
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) (Near UV-Near IR) 1990
   ESA Hubble Site - Hubble Heritage Project
Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits (COROT, Exoplanets) 2006
Kepler (Exoplanets) 2009
Gaia (Astrometric Survey) 2011

High energy
Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE, X-ray) 1995
XMM-Newton (X-ray) 1999
Chandra (X-ray) 1999
International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL, Gamma ray) 2002
Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX, UV) 2003
Swift (Gamma ray, X-ray, UV) 2004
Suzaku (Astro-EII, X-ray) 2005
Astrorivelatore Gamma ad Immagini LEggero (AGILE, Gamma ray) 2007
Fermi (Gamma ray) 2008
Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI/ISS, X-ray) 2009
Astrosat (UV, X-ray) 04/2010
Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR, X-ray) 2011
Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT, X-ray) 2011
Astro-H (X-ray) 2013
Spektr-RG (X-ray) ?

Solar Observatories
[Pioneer 6/8 (Inaktive) 1965/67]
WIND 1994
*Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) 1995
Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) 1997
Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) 1998
High Energy Transient Explorer 2 (HETE 2) 2000
Hinode (Solar-B) 2006
Stereo A/B 2006
Koronas-Foton 2009
Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) 02/2010

Particles
Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) 2008
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 2 (AMS 2/ISS) 07/2010

Planetary Probes

Mercury
Messenger 2004
Bepi-Colombo 2014

Venus
Venus Express (VEX) 2005
Akatsuki (Planet-C) 05/2010
Venera D 2016

Earth
Akebono (Magnetosphere/Aurora) 1989
Geotail (Magnetotail) 1992
Cluster 1-4(Magnetic field) 2000
Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE, Gravity field) 2002
Double Star 1/2 (Magnetic field) 2003/04
Reimei (Aurora) 2005
Gravity field and Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE, Gravity field) 2009
Swarm (Magnetic field) 2011

Moon
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) 2008
Chang'e 2 2010
Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) 2011
Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) 2012
Luna Glob 2012
Chandrayaan 2 (lander/rover) 2013

Mars
[Nozomi (Solar Orbit) 1998]
Mars Odyssey 2001
Mars Express (MEX) 2003
   *Mars Express VMC
Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) 2003
   *Mars Rover images - Spirit - Opportunity
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) 2005
Phobos Grunt 2011
Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory (MSL, rover) 2011
Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) 2013
ExoMars (rover) 2016

Asteroids/Comets
International Cometary Explorer (ICE) 1978
Stardust-NEXT (Comet Tempel 1) 1999
Hayabusa (Itokawa) 2003
Rosetta (Comets 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko & 21 Lutetia) 2004
Deep Impact (EPOXI, Comet Hartley 2 & Exoplanets) 2005
Dawn (Ceres & Vesta) 2007

Jupiter
Juno 2011
Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM) 2020
   Europa Orbiter - Ganymede Orbiter

Saturn
*Cassini 1997
   Cassini images

Pluto/Kuiper Belt
New Horizons 2006

Interstellar Space
Pioneer 10/11 1972/73
Voyager Interstellar Mission (Voyager 1/2) 1977

Experimental Spacecraft

Solar Sailing
Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun (IKAROS, 04/2010)
LightSail-1 2010?

* Images immediately available on the Internet
[] Probe is deactivated but could still be contacted

More:

What's up in the solar system in January 2010 Planetary Society Blog
JPL Photojournal Images from all NASA missions
Solar System Simulator
HORIZONS Solar System Ephemeris
Active Interplanetary Probes At Any Given Time
List of Solar System probes - List of Space Telescopes (Wikipedia)
NASA Missions - JAXA Missions - ESA Missions - ISRO Missions - Roscosmos Missions - Roscosmos HP - CNSA Missions

[Update 20/01/2010: corrected slight error in chart]

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