Ultraviolet observations of the Universe CompletedLaunched 26 January 1978Ended September 1996The International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) has been one of the most productive satellites ever built. IUE provided invaluable information about stars located millions of kilometres away as well as objects much closer to home, such as comets approaching our part of the Solar System. IUE was originally planned as a three to five year mission to analyse ultraviolet light from the stars. By the time it was...

Imagine landing on the Moon, climbing down the ladder of your spacecraft, and looking around the harsh lunar landscape—to see another, older spacecraft standing only 200 yards away.That's exactly what happened in November 1969, when astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean stepped out of the Apollo 12 lunar module. There, within walking distance on the edge of a small crater, stood Surveyor 3, an unmanned U.S. spacecraft that had landed in April 1967.Apollo 12's landing site had been chosen deliberately...

Detecting high energy radiation In operationLaunched 17 October 2002Due to end 31 December 2012The International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) is providing new insights into the most violent and exotic objects of the Universe, such as black holes, neutron stars, active galactic nuclei and supernovae. The mission is led by the European Space Agency (ESA) in co-operation with Russia, the United States, the Czech Republic and Poland. INTEGRAL is the most sensitive gamma ray observatory...

Exploring the hidden depths of space CompletedLaunched 17 November 1995Ended in 1998When it was launched in 1995, the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) was the most sensitive infrared satellite ever sent into space. ISO has enabled us to peer into regions of space invisible to other telescopes, penetrating dust clouds to observe new stars as they form and detect distant young galaxies. The satellite made important studies of cool objects in the Universe that emit infrared radiation but no visible...

Europe’s pioneering star mapping mission CompletedLaunched 8 August 1989Ended August 1993Results updated 2007During its three and a half year mission, Hipparcos pinpointed the positions, and measured distances, of more than 100,000 stars with an accuracy that had never been achieved before. Hipparcos was the first mission dedicated to measuring the positions and motions of stars. This branch of astronomy is known as astrometry. In the process, Hipparcos also measured the brightness and colours...

Japanese mission to investigate the Sun Launched on 22 September 2006Mission due to end in 2009UK and international involvementThe Japanese Hinode mission is studying the processes involved in solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections. These events send billions of tonnes of particles spewing out into space and can have a major effect on the Earth. Solar flares are tremendous explosions in the atmosphere of the star. They can directly affect the Earth’s upper atmosphere disrupting radio communications....

A mission to map the stars and their movements In development since 2007Due to launch in 2011The European Space Agency’s Gaia mission will examine the Milky Way in unprecedented 3-D detail. The spacecraft will survey more than one billion stars to make the largest, most precise map of our Galaxy to date. Gaia will be scanning the sky continuously for five years. This will enable each object to be observed on average about 80 times. Gaia will log the position, brightness and colour of every celestial...

ExoMars is part of ESA’s Aurora programmeand lays the foundation for future human exploration of the Solar System. Its aim is to examine the biological environment on Mars in preparation for other robotic missions and possible human exploration. Data from the mission will also provide invaluable input for broader studies of geochemistry, environmental science and exobiology-the search for life on other planets. ExoMars will consist of an orbiter, a descent module and a six wheeled rover. The first...

The first mission to look inside a comet Launched 12 January 2005The spacecraft’s impactor smashed into comet Tempel 1 on 4 July 2005Deep Impact will fly-by comet Hartley 2 in December 2010Deep Impact originally consisted of two spacecraft, one inside the other. It made a rendezvous with comet Tempel 1. Once in position, the smaller impactor craft separated from the larger spacecraft and was put on a collision course with the comet. The resulting crash was not powerful enough to change the comet’s...

India’s first mission to the moon Due for launch 2008An Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) missionChandrayaan-1 is India’s first unmanned mission to the Moon. It will spend two years performing high resolution mapping of the lunar surface in visible light, near infrared, low energy and high energy X-rays. The spacecraft will also assess the Moon’s mineral resources and the distribution of elements such as silicon, iron and titanium. Chandrayaan-1 is a 1.5 m cube and its scientific package...

NASA's Cassini mission is closing one chapter of its journey at Saturn and embarking on a new one with a two-year mission that will address new questions and bring it closer to two of its most intriguing targets—Titan and Enceladus.On June 30, Cassini completes its four-year prime mission and begins its extended mission, which was approved in April of this year.Among other things, Cassini revealed the Earth-like world of Saturn's moon Titan and showed the potential habitability of another moon,...

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander repositioned its robotic arm slightly today and is now poised to deliver Martian soil to its wet chemistry laboratory.Sample delivery and analysis is planned as the science highlight tomorrow, June 25, the 30th Martian day of the mission. Phoenix is to perform the first-ever wet-chemistry experiment on polar Martian terrain, testing the soil for salts, acidity and other characteristics.The wet chemistry laboratory is part of the suite of tools called the Microscopy, Electrochemistry...

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander scraped to icy soil in the "Wonderland" area on Thursday, June 26, confirming that surface soil, subsurface soil and icy soil can be sampled at a single trench.Phoenix scientists are now assured they have a complete soil-layer profile in Wonderland's "Snow White" extended trench.By rasping to icy soil, the robotic arm on Phoenix proved it could flatten the layer where soil meets ice, exposing the icy flat surface below the soil. Scientists can now proceed with plans to...

In operationLaunched 1997Arrived at Saturn July 2004Huygens probe landed on Titan 14 January 2005Cassini-Huygens is the first mission to make a long-term study of Saturn, its moons, rings and complex magnetic environment. A joint NASA/European Space Agency (ESA)/Italian Space Agency project, Cassini-Huygens involves UK scientists on both the orbiter (Cassini) and probe (Huygens). Since entering Saturn’s orbit, the spacecraft has transformed our understanding of the ringed planet. Achievements include...

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander performed its first wet chemistry experiment on Martian soil flawlessly yesterday, returning a wealth of data that for Phoenix scientists was like winning the lottery."We are awash in chemistry data," said Michael Hecht of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, lead scientist for the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA, instrument on Phoenix. "We're trying to understand what is the chemistry of wet soil on Mars, what's dissolved in it, how acidic...

BepiColombo will be only the third spacecraft to visit Mercury in the history of space exploration. Mercury’s harsh environment makes it a particularly challenging mission. The spacecraft will have to endure intense sunlight and temperatures up to 350°C while gathering data. This joint venture between Europe and Japan is an ESA ‘Cornerstone’ mission. It will help our understanding of the formation of the Solar System and its inner rocky planets, including Earth. The mission will build on the experience...

New analysis of Mars' terrain using NASA spacecraft observations reveals what appears to be by far the largest impact crater ever found in the solar system.NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Global Surveyor have provided detailed information about the elevations and gravity of the Red Planet's northern and southern hemispheres. A new study using this information may solve one of the biggest remaining mysteries in the solar system: why does Mars have two strikingly different kinds of terrain...