13 Space Missions That You Never Heard About. And They're Happening Right Now

by N/A, 9 years ago | 1 min read

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Our universe is constantly being explored and we don't even realize it.

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1. Akatsuki

Akatsuki is a meteorological satellite launched by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. It was launched to explore Venus, but experienced engine problems. Engineers sent it into orbit with the sun and it will intersect with Venus in 2013.

2. Voyager 2

Voyager 2 launched three weeks before Voyager 1 and studied the outer planets and is the only probe to study Neptune and Uranus.

3. Rosetta

Rosetta is probably the most famous mission of the year. This is the probe that landed on a comet.

4. New Horizons

New Horizons was launched 9 years ago. The probe collected photos and atmospheric data from Jupiter and also studied Pluto.

5. Pioneer 10 & 11

Neither of these spacecrafts are communicating with Earth. They were the first probes to study Jupiter and the asteroid belt.

6. Dawn

Dawn was launched in '07 and was the first probe to visit and protoplanet.

7. Stereo

The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory is comprised of two satellites that are the first to collect stereoscopic imagery of the sun.

8. Juno

Juno launched in 2011 and was tasked with exploring Jupiter.

9. Cassini

Cassini was launched in 1997 by the Italian Space Agency. Cassini captured the most detailed photo of Jupiter ever. It continues to capture images and data across the solar system.

10. Voyager 1

It was sent to study outer planets and has been doing so for 33 years.

11. Mars Orbiter Mission

MOM is the least expensive mission to Mars, costing $73 million.

12. Venus Express

Venus Express launched in 2005 to study Earth and the some aspects of Venus.

13. International Comet Explorer

The ICE was launched in 1978 and is studying cosmic rays. It intersected with Earth's orbit in 2014 and scientists discovered that they could no longer communicate with the probe. If it stays on the same orbital path, we should see it again in 17 years.