Current Missions

Space Missions

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Missions Currently in Progress

1. Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE)  - to study the flow of energetic particles from the Sun and provide space weather information.

2. BepiColombo Mission - a joint European Space Agency and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency mission to the planet Mercury.  The mission was launched into space on October 19, 2018 and is expected to reach Mercury in 2025. 

3. Chandra X-Ray Observatory - to study the universe in the x-ray wavelength.

4. Exomars Mission - a joint European Space Agency and Russian space mission to send a spacecraft to Mars to study its atmosphere and look for indications of present day geological and biological activity.  Launched on March 14, 2016 and arrived at Mars in October 2016. 

5. Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope - formerly called GLAST, this mission which was launched on June 11, 2008 will enable scientists to study black holes, study subatomic particles and learn more about the birth and early evolution of the universe. 

6. Gaia Mission - a European Space Agency mission designed to survey a billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy and also reveal the composition, formation and evolution of the galaxy.  Launched on December 19, 2013. 

7. Hubble Space Telescope - a cooperative program of the European Space Agency and NASA to study the stars, planets and galaxies by the use of an orbiting space telescope. 

8. IBEX - Interstellar Boundry Explorer - a mission designed to study the interstellar boundries that separate our heliosphere from the local interstellar medium. 

9. International Space Station - an orbiting space station manned by astronauts/scientists to study our planet. 

10. Juno Mission - a NASA New Frontiers mission.  Juno will investigate Jupiter's origins, internal structure , etc.  Launched on August 5, 2011.  Juno is currently in orbit around Jupiter.   

11. 2001 Mars Odyssey - an orbiting spacecraft that kis designed to detect water and shallow buried ice on Mars.  Launched on April 7, 2001 and arrived at Mars on October 24, 2001.  The spacecraft kis currently in its extended mission. 

12. Mars Express Mission - a European Space Agency mission to study the atmosphere and surface of  Mars and to search for evidence of life, past or present.  Launched on June 2, 2003 and went into orbit around Mars on December 25, 2003. 

13. Mars InSight Mission - a NASA mission that will drill into the Martian surface to study the interior of the planet and answer questions about the early formatgion of rocky planets in our inner solar system long ago.  Launched on May 5, 2018, InSight landed on Mars on November 26, 2018 and has begun its science mission. 

14. Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission - a NASA mission to look for signs of life on Mars and to collect rock and soil samples for a possible return to Earth.  Launched on July 30, 2020. 

15. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - the spacecraft designed to go into low orbit around Mars will examine the planet in great detail and provide more data than we ever got from all previous Mars missions.  Launched on August 12, 2005 and went into orbit around Mars in March 2006.

16. Mars Science Laboratory - a mission which carries a carf-sized rover named Curiosity to the planet Mars to see if that planet could have had life in the past or still does.  Mission was launched on November 26, 2011. 

17. MAVEN Mission - a mission designed to study the Martian upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the sun and solar wind.  Mission was launched on November 18, 2013. 

18. NEOWISE Mission - launched as the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) on December 14, 2009 the spacecraft after completing its initial mission was re-purposed in December 2013 for the NEOWISE project to hunt for asteroids and comets including those that could hit the Earth. 

19. New Horizons - a spacecraft mission to study the dwarf planet Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.  The mission was launched January 19, 2006 and has flown past Pluto in July 2015 and is continuing on through the Kuiper Belt. 

20. NuSTAR Mission - a NASA mission which will search for black holes in our galaxy as well as those in faraway galaxies.  Launched June 13, 2012. 

21. Solar Dynamics Observatory - a NASA mission designed to help us understand the Sun's influence on Earth and Near-Earth space.  Launched on February 11, 2010.

22. Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) - a European Space Agency mission to study the Sun and the solar wind.  Launched on December 2, 1995. 

23. Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) - a 80/20 partnership between NASA and the German Aerospace Center.  SOFIA is the largest airborne observatory in the world.  The observatory saw first light on May 26, 2010.

24. TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) - a mission to survey nearby bright stars for the presence of exoplanets.  Launched on April 18, 2018.

25. Voyager Mission - Voyagers 1 & 2 which made a flyby of the outer planets is more than 90 AU or 8.4 billion miles from the Sun and is heading out beyond our solar system.  The spacecraft was launched in 1977.  

26. Wind Spacecraft - to measure the incoming solar wind, magnetic fields and particles.  Launched on November 1, 1994.