SpaceRef - Exploration and Missions - Robotic Missions

Explorer Spacecraft Pictures - This site contains images of America's very first space probes. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory]

Hiten (MUSES-A) - This was a, ISAS engineering demonstration mission in 1990 to demonstrate a lunar swingby orbiting technique. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. [ISAS]

ICE (ISEE-3) - NASA Mission to Comet Giacobini-Zinner - The primary scientific objective of ICE was to study the interaction between the solar wind and a cometary atmosphere. As planned, the spacecraft traversed the plasma tail of Comet Giacobini-Zinner on September 11, 1985, and made in situ measurements of particles, fields, and waves. It also transited between the Sun and Comet Halley in late March 1986. ICE became the first spacecraft to directly investigate two comets. NASA GSFC's National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC)

Mars Express - Mars Express will be launched in 2003 and comprises an orbiter with seven onboard scientific instruments that will probe the planet's atmosphere, structure and geology, looking for, among other things, evidence of hidden water. The main spacecraft will also release a small lander that will gather and test rock and soil samples on the surface. [European Space Agency]

MESSENGER: Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging mission - MESSENGER will enter Mercury orbit in September 2009 and carry out comprehensive measurements for one Earth year. Orbital data collection concludes in September 2010. [Johns Hopkins University]

Planetary Missions - This page at the NASA GSFC National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) provides summaries of a long list of past and present planetary science space probe missions.

Sakigake - Japanese ISAS mission to Comet Halley - Sakigake ('Pioneer') is a test spacecraft similar to Suisei (Planet-A). It flew by Comet P/Halley on its sunward side at a distance of about 7 million kilometers on March 11, 1986. NASA GSFC's National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC)

Suisei - Japanese ISAS mission to Comet Halley - Suisei (the Japanese name meaning `Comet') was launched on March 18, 1985 into heliocentric orbit to fly by Comet P/Halley. The main objective of the mission was to take UV images of the hydrogen corona for about 30 days before and after Comet Halley's descending crossing of the ecliptic plane. NASA GSFC's National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC)