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
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