Archive-name: space/new_probes Last-modified: $Date: 95/02/01 20:19:24 $ 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. 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 - Saturn orbiter and Titan atmosphere probe. Cassini is 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) 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 the spacecraft. Clementine imagery and other data may be obtained from ftp://clementine.s1.gov/pub/clementine/images ftp://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/pub/spacecraft/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. Lots of information about EOS can be found in the sci.geo.eos FAQ or http://spso2.gsfc.nasa.gov/spso_homepage.html GALILEO - Jupiter orbiter and atmosphere probe, in transit. Has returned the first resolved images of asteroids, Gaspra and Ida, while in transit to Jupiter. Efforts to unfurl the stuck High Gain Antenna (HGA) have essentially been abandoned. JPL has developed a backup plan using enhancements of the receiving antennas in the Deep Space Network and data compression (JPEG-like for images, lossless compression for data from the other instruments) on the spacecraft. This should allow Galileo to achieve approximately 70% of its original science objectives with the much lower speed Low Gain Antenna. Longterm Jovian weather monitoring, which is imagery intensive, will suffer the most. Galileo Schedule ---------------- 10/18/89 - Launch from Space Shuttle 02/09/90 - Venus Flyby 10/**/90 - Venus Data Playback 12/08/90 - 1st Earth Flyby 05/01/91 - High Gain Antenna (was to have) Unfurled 07/91 - 06/92 - 1st Asteroid Belt Passage 10/29/91 - Asteroid Gaspra Flyby 12/08/92 - 2nd Earth Flyby 05/93 - 11/93 - 2nd Asteroid Belt Passage 08/28/93 - Asteroid Ida Flyby 07/13/95 - Probe Separation 07/20/95 - Orbiter Deflection Maneuver 12/95 - 10/97 - Orbital Tour of Jovian Moons 12/07/95 - Jupiter/Io Encounter 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 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. 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. For more info, 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. For more info, see http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs.html 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. 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. ULYSSES- European Space Agency probe to study the Sun from an orbit over its poles. Launched in late 1990, 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. OTHER SPACE SCIENCE MISSIONS (various sources; corrections and updates are solicited. Launch dates are usually tentative, and most shuttle missions are not listed even when they have some science content). 1995 o SL-M (Spacelab - MIR) [May, Shuttle, MIR] Space Shuttle docking with Russian MIR station. Life sciences mission (Spacelab). 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 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. 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. 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 MARS PATHFINDER [Delta 2, NASA] Lander and microrover to perform technology, science and engineering experiments on the Martian Surface. See http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/~jwright/fact_sheet/fact_sheet.html o RADIOASTRON [Russian space agency] 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. 2003 o ROSETTA [ESA] Asteroid flyby and comet rendezvous (potential target comets are Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, Wirtanen, Finlay and Brooks 2 for a launch in the time interval 2002-2004). 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 Station will be deployed onto the comets' 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. Proposed Missions: o Advanced X-ray Astronomy Facility (AXAF) Possible launch from shuttle in 1995, AXAF is a space observatory with a high resolution telescope. It would orbit for 15 years and study the mysteries and fate of the universe. 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. No funding has been allocated for such missions. o Pluto Fast Flyby (PFF) Possible launch in 1999-2000 (if a 1996 new start is authorized). Calls for launch of two ~110-150 kg spacecraft using Titan IV/Centaur or Proton (both with additional solid kick stages) in 1999-2000 and encounters with Pluto and Charon around 2006-8. Flybys would be at 12-18 km/second; data would be recorded onboard the probes during the short encounters and returned to Earth slowly (due to low power, small antenna sizes, and large distances) over the next year or so. Science objectives include characterizing global geology and geomorphology of Pluto and Charon, mapping both sides of each body, and characterizing Pluto's atmosphere (the atmosphere is freezing out as Pluto moves away from the Sun, so launching early and minimizing flight time is critical for this objective). The 7 kilogram instrument package might include a CCD imaging camera, IR mapping spectrometer, UV spectrometer, and radio science occultation experiments. The PFF spacecraft would be highly miniaturized descendant of the present class of outer solar system platforms, breaking the trend of increasingly complex and expensive probes such as Galileo and Cassini. o Space Infrared Telescope Facility Possible launch by shuttle in 1999, this is the 4th element of the Great Observatories program. A free-flying observatory with a lifetime of 5 to 10 years, it would 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 NEXT: FAQ #10/13 - Controversial questions