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:
“But waste was of the essence of the scheme.
And all the good they did for man or god
To all those flowers they passionately trod
Was leave as their posterity one pod
With an inheritance of restless dream.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Have We not made the earth as a cradle
and the mountains as pegs?
And We created you in pairs,
and We appointed your sleep for a rest;
and We appointed night for a garment,
and We appointed day for a livelihood.
And We have built above you seven strong ones,
and We appointed a blazing lamp
and have sent down out of the rain-clouds water cascading
that We may bring forth thereby grain and plants,
and gardens luxuriant.”
—Qur’an, “The Tiding” 78:6-16, ed. Arthur J. Arberry (1955)
““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)