A space probe is a scientific space exploration mission in which a spacecraft leaves Earth and explores space. It may approach the Moon; enter interplanetary space; flyby, orbit or land on other planetary bodies; or approach interstellar space. Space probes are a form of robotic spacecraft. The Voyager 1 is one of the most famous space probes.
See list of probes by operational status for a list of active probes; the space agencies of the USSR (now Russia and Ukraine), the United States, the European Union, Japan, China and India have in the aggregate launched probes to several planets and moons of the solar system as well as to a number of asteroids and comets.
Read more about Space Probe: Interplanetary Trajectories, Probe Imagers, See Also, Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the words space and/or probe:
“Our passionate preoccupation with the sky, the stars, and a God somewhere in outer space is a homing impulse. We are drawn back to where we came from.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“The middle years are ones in which children increasingly face conflicts on their own,... One of the truths to be faced by parents during this period is that they cannot do the work of living and relating for their children. They can be sounding boards and they can probe with the children the consequences of alternative actions.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)