Montage of planets and some moons that the two Voyager spacecraft have visited and studied. It is the only program that visited all four outer planets.
A total of nine spacecraft have been launched on missions that involve visits to the outer planets; all nine missions involve encounters with Jupiter, with four spacecraft also visiting Saturn. One spacecraft, Voyager 2, also visited Uranus and Neptune. The nine missions include two, Ulysses and New Horizons, whose primary objectives were not outer planets, but which flew past Jupiter to gain gravity assists en route to a polar orbit around the Sun (Ulysses), and to Pluto (New Horizons). Pluto was considered a planet at the time that New Horizons launched, but was reclassified as a dwarf planet. Cassini–Huygens also flew past Jupiter for a gravity assist on its mission to explore Saturn.
Only three of the missions to the outer planets have been orbiters: Galileo orbited Jupiter for eight years, while Cassini orbited Saturn for thirteen years. Juno has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016.
Summary
Summary of missions to the outer planets and beyond.
Nine spacecraft have been launched to explore Jupiter, with two other spacecraft making gravity-assist flybys.
New Horizons, although eventually targeting Pluto, used Jupiter for a gravity assist and had an extensive almost half year observation campaign of Jupiter and its moons (hence it is counted in the eight).[1]
Humanity's first object to attain Solar system's escape velocity. First probe to traverse the asteroid belt, to reach Jovanian system, to use a gravity assist and to leave the proximity of Solar systems' planets. Held the record for fastest human-made object at the time and the most distant one until Voyager 1 overtook in 1998. Closest approach towards Jupiter was at 02:25 UTC on 4 December 1973. Flew by Callisto, Ganymede, Europa and Io at long distances. Final signal received on 23 January 2003, 12billionkm (80AU; 7.5billionmi) from Earth.[5]
Closest approach towards Jupiter at 05:22 UTC on 3 December 1974. Flew by Callisto, Ganymede, Io and Europa . First probe to reach Saturnian system. Final contact was roughly at a distance of 6.5billionkm (43AU; 4.0billionmi)[7]
Closest approach at 22:29 on 9 July 1979. Flew past Callisto, Ganymede, Europa, Amalthea and Io at long distances. Later flew past Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Oldest active space probe at 48years, 2months, 2days. Currently studying interstellar medium. At a distance of 136.1AU (20.4billionkm; 12.7billionmi) from Earth as of May2024[update][9]
Closest approach at 12:05 UTC on 5 March 1979. Flew past Amalthea, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto at long distances. Later flew past Saturn. First probe to depart heliosphere and enter interstellar medium. Most distant human-made object at a distance of 162.7AU (24.3billionkm; 15.1billionmi) from Earth as of May2024[update].[10]
First probe to enter Jupiter's atmosphere. Entered at 22:04 UTC on 7 December 1995 and operated for 57 minutes; main spacecraft entered orbit at 00:27 UTC on 8 December.[13] Spacecraft was deorbited on 21 September 2003, impacting Jupiter's atmosphere at 18:57:18 UTC.[14]
Gravity assist.[20] Major observation campaign from Jan-June.[1] Flyby on 28 February 2007 (closest approach at 05:43:40[21]) en route to Pluto.[22] First probe to flyby Plutonian system.
First interplanetary probe to the outer Solar System planets not launched by the United States and the first set to orbit a moon (Ganymede) other than Earth's Moon.
Four spacecraft have visited Saturn; Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 made flybys, while Cassini–Huygens entered orbit, and deployed a probe into the atmosphere of Titan.
First probe to reach Saturnian system. Closest approach on 1 September 1979 at 16:31 UTC. Flew past Iapetus, Dione, Mimas, Tethys, Enceladus, Rhea and Titan at long distances. Discovered Epimetheus and Janus.[7]
Closest approach at 01:21 UTC on 26 August 1981. Flew past Iapetus, Titan, Dione, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys and Rhea at long distances. Later flew past Uranus and Neptune.[9]
Entered orbit 1 July 2004. First probe to orbit Saturn. Discovered seven new moons. Hyugens probe became the first spacecraft to land on Titan with the farthest landing from Earth a spacecraft ever made. It was deployed from Cassini and landed at 10:13 UTC on 14 January 2005. Mission concluded on 15 September 2017.[25]
Discovered eleven moons. Flew past Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon. Closest approach at 17:59 UTC on 24 January 1986. Later flew past Neptune.[9]
Missions are ordered by launch date. Sign † indicates failure en route or before intended mission data returned. ‡ indicates use of the planet as a gravity assist en route to another destination.
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