Timeline of Solar System Exploration - 2000s

2000s

2001

• 2001 Mars Odyssey – 7 April 2001 – Mars orbiter
• Genesis – 8 August 2001 – First solar wind sample return

2002

• CONTOUR – 3 July 2002 – Attempted flyby of three comet nuclei (lost in space)

2003

• Hayabusa (Muses-C) – 9 May 2003 – Asteroid lander and First sample return from asteroid
• Mars Exploration Rovers – 10 June/7 July 2003 – Two Mars rovers ("Spirit" and "Opportunity")
• Mars Express/Beagle 2 – 1 June 2003 – Mars orbiter/lander (lander failure)
• SMART-1 – 27 September 2003 – Lunar orbiter
• Shenzhou 5 – 15 October 2003 – China's first manned Earth orbiter

2004

• Rosetta – 2 March 2004 – Comet orbiter and lander (expected arrival 2014)
• MESSENGER – 3 August 2004 – First Mercury orbiter (achieved orbit 18 March 2011)

2005

• Deep Impact – 12 January 2005 – First comet impact
• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – 12 August 2005 – Mars orbiter
• Venus Express – 9 November 2005 – Venus polar orbiter

2006

• New Horizons – 19 January 2006 – First Pluto/Charon and Kuiper Belt flyby (expected arrival 14 July 2015)
• Hinode (Solar-B) – 22 September 2006 – Solar orbiter
• STEREO – 26 October 2006 – Two spacecraft, solar orbiters

2007

• Phoenix – 4 August 2007 – Mars polar lander
• Kaguya (Selene) – 14 September 2007 – Lunar orbiters
• Dawn – 27 September 2007 – Asteroid Ceres and Vesta orbiter (entered orbit around Vesta on 16 July 2011)
• Chang'e 1 – 24 October 2007 – Lunar orbiter

2008

• Chandrayaan-1 – 22 October 2008 – Lunar orbiter and impactor – Discovered water on the moon

2009

• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS – 18 June 2009 – Lunar polar orbiter and lunar impactor