Other Probes To Leave Earth Orbit
For completeness, this section lists probes that have left (or will leave) Earth orbit, but are not targeted at any of the above bodies.
| Spacecraft | Organization | Date | Location | Status | Notes | Image | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WMAP | NASA | 30 June 2001 (launch) – to October 2010 (end) | Sun-Earth L2 point | success | cosmic background radiation observations; sent to graveyard orbit after 9 years of use. | |||
| Spitzer Space Telescope | NASA | 25 August 2003 (launch) – still active (as of December 2010) | Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit | success | infrared astronomy | |||
| Chang'e 2 | CNSA | 25 August 2011(arrive) to 15 April 2012(end) | Sun-Earth L2 point | success | Left the point on 15 April 2012, now heading for asteroid 4179 Toutatis. | |||
| Kepler | NASA | 6 March 2009 (launch) | Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit | operational | search for extrasolar planets | |||
| Herschel Space Observatory | ESA | 14 May 2009 (launch) | Lissajous orbit around Sun-Earth L2 point | operational | study of formation and evolution of galaxies and stars | |||
| Planck | ESA | 14 May 2009 (launch) | Lissajous orbit around Sun-Earth L2 point | operational | cosmic microwave background observations | |||
| IKAROS | JAXA | 20 May 2010 (launch) | Earth-Venus transfer heliocentric orbit | operational | solar sail technology development / interplanetary space exploration | |||
| Shin'en (UNITEC-1) |
UNISEC | failure | technology development; contact lost shortly after launch | |||||
| Gaia | ESA | 2013 (launch) | Lissajous orbit around Sun-Earth L2 point | planned | astrometry mission to measure the position and motion of 1 billion stars | |||
| LISA Pathfinder | ESA | 2014 (launch) | Halo orbit around Sun-Earth L1 point | planned | test mission for proposed LISA gravitational wave observatory | |||
| James Webb Space Telescope | NASA ESA CSA |
2018 (launch) | Sun-Earth L2 point | planned | infrared astronomy | |||
| Euclid | ESA | 2019 (launch) | Halo orbit around Sun-Earth L2 point | planned | measure the rate of expansion of the Universe through time to better understand dark energy and dark matter | |||
Read more about this topic: List Of Solar System Probes
Famous quotes containing the words leave, earth and/or orbit:
“One must leave one’s parents early, especially one’s mother. Mothers are never any good for their daughters. They forget they were just as ugly and silly and scraggy when they were little girls.”
—Robert, Mrs. Henrey (b. 1906)
“One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to the place where he arose.”
—Bible: Hebrew Ecclesiastes 1:4,5.
Ernest Hemingway’s book title The Sun Also Rises (1926)
““To my thinking” boomed the Professor, begging the question as usual, “the greatest triumph of the human mind was the calculation of Neptune from the observed vagaries of the orbit of Uranus.”
“And yours,” said the P.B.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)