Solar System Exploration

To ancient astronomers Solar System exploration consisted of looking into the sky with the unaided eye and developing theories based on their observations. It was more of a belief system than science. Many things changed with the advent of the telescope. Astronomers realized that the Earth was not the center of the Universe and began to make rudimentary observations of bodies other than the five planets known prior to that. Today, we explore our Solar System from orbit and interplanetary space.

The modern era of Solar System exploration began with the launch of sputnik in 1957. Sputnik was the first artificial satellite and gave the Russian space agency the distinction of placing the first human made object above the atmosphere. All modern satellites are developed on technology gained from this one satellite. The Soviet space program further advanced our understanding of the Solar System by launching the first probe to another celestial body. Luna 1 was meant to impact the surface of the Moon in 1959, but a guidance system malfunction caused it to miss the lunar surface by 6,400 km.

Before Luna 1 was built, NASA had plans to sent a probe to another planet. Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to accomplish that goal. The probe was launched in 1962 and made its first flyby of Venus later that same year. Of course, scientists were not satisfied to visit one planet. Mariner 4 flew by Mars in 1965. Several mission to Mars followed, then Mariner 10 made the first flyby of Mercury in 1974.

The outer planets were a bit more of a challenge and probes were not able to flyby until the twin missions of Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Both probes have been survived and returned data for a much longer period of time than expected. Both missions have left our Solar System and have begun to return information about the region where our sun’s influence ends.

Despite the many accomplishments that science has made in Solar System exploration, no one wants to rest on their laurels. At any time there are at least two dozen probes or space based telescopes peering into the space beyond our planet. You can find a great deal of recent information by researching the MESSENGER and New Horizons probes as well as reading up on the Hubble Space Telescope. Try this link to the NASA solar system page.

Here is an article about NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, on its way to Pluto right now, and this article is about Voyager’s journey through the outer reaches of the Solar System.

Here’s a link to NASA’s Solar System Exploration page. A great resource. And Solar System Exploration… for kids.

We have recorded a whole series of podcasts about the Solar System at Astronomy Cast. Check them out here.

References:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_924.html
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=Luna_01
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_964.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/termination_shock.html