Space Exploration
Although no planetary probes were launched in 2009, four astronomical observatories were placed into orbit. The Kepler spacecraft, which was launched by a Delta II on 7 March, entered an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit from where it will search for exoplanets. On 14 May, and Ariane 5ECA launched the Herschel and Planck spacecraft. Both were placed at the L2 Lagrangian point between the Earth and Sun, from where they will be used for astronomy. Herschel carries an infrared telescope whilst Planck carries an optical one. The fourth observatory to be launched was the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, which is a replacement for the Wide Field Infrared Explorer which failed shortly after launch. WISE was launched into a sun-synchronous orbit by a Delta II on 14 December, and will be used for infrared astronomy. Repairs made to the Hubble Space Telescope during STS-125 restored it to full operations after a series of malfunctions in 2008.
Two lunar probes were launched in 2009; the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite were launched on a single Atlas V rocket on 18 June. LRO entered selenocentric orbit and began a series of experiments, whilst LCROSS remained attached to the Centaur upper stage of the carrier rocket, and flew past the Moon. After orbiting the Earth twice, LCROSS separated from the upper stage and both it and the Centaur impacted the Cabeus crater at the South Pole of the Moon, on 9 October. By observing the Centaur's impact, LCROSS was able to confirm the presence of water on the Moon. Several other Lunar probes ceased operations in 2009; Okina impacted the far side of the Moon on 12 February, Chang'e 1 was deorbited on 1 March, having completed its operations. Kaguya was also deorbited following a successful mission, impacting near Gill crater on 12 June. The Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft failed on 29 August, having operated for less than half of its design life.
The Mars Science Laboratory and Fobos-Grunt missions to Mars had been scheduled for launch at the end of 2009, however both were delayed to 2011 to allow more time for the spacecraft to be developed. Fobos-Grunt, a sample return mission to Mars' natural satellite Phobos, would have carried the first Chinese planetary probe, Yinghuo-1.
Several flybys occurred in 2009, with Cassini continuing to orbit Saturn, passing close to a number of its natural satellites. In February, Dawn passed within 549 kilometres (341 mi) of Mars, during a gravity assist manoeuvre for its journey to the asteroid belt. In September, MESSENGER made its third and final flyby of Mercury before entering orbit in 2011. Whilst the primary objective of the flyby, achieving a gravitational assist, was successful, the spacecraft entered safe mode shortly before its closest approach, which prevented it recording data as it flew away from the planet. In November, the Rosetta spacecraft performed its third and final gravity assist flyby of Earth.
Read more about this topic: 2009 In Spaceflight
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