Stereo website

stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov...

Hi all

was visiting the site after reading another thread and noticed something that makes we wonder

check this out

The MAVEN mission is headed for Mars and will be partnering with STEREO on the way. The MAVEN mission includes solar wind sensors which combined with those of STEREO will provide another vantage point so that we can better understand the 3D structure of our complex space environment. In addition, STEREO keeps an eye on space weather throughout the solar system, providing warnings of danger to MAVEN and other spacecraft far from Earth.

Just how many spacecraft do we have 'far from earth' ?

reply to post by Perfect stranger


Do you want a list?

Or will LOTS!! suffice?

reply to post by AlphaHawk


I could only think of voyager and would that would be way too far away to get any scanning value from the craft heading to mars but another search showed me "rosetta" and other satellites but are satellites considered a spacecraft far from earth

Maybe my search sucks?

reply to post by Perfect stranger


Lots would probably best describe how many are up there. There's probably a dozen in some sort of orbit around the sun, then several orbiting Mars, And other planets. Then there's all the terrestrial satellites we have..

Don't forget about NASA's Deep Space Network.
Current missions involving JPL
NASA Missions
United Nations Officer of Outer Space Affairs

Then there is joint missions with other nations, including their own space missions.

I think we have always (nations of Earth) had a large number of probes etc. I just think since we are learning more and more about space and other planets, coupled with finding planets outside our solar system, that the media is paying more attention.

Perfect stranger
Just how many spacecraft do we have 'far from earth' ?

Here's a list of active probes which have escaped Earth orbit: en.wikipedia.org...

There are five spacecraft en route to their destination, and about 15 currently performing their mission. The list doesn't include probes orbiting at the Sun-Earth Lagrangian points.

So yeah, there's lots of them.

reply to post by Perfect stranger


A few specific ones I can think of off the top of my head would be:

- Dawn, which was orbiting the asteroid Vesta, but has since moved on toward the asteroid Ceres.
- Rosetta (as you mentioned), which is on its to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in a couple of months.
- New Horizons is currently on its way to Pluto.
- JUNO, which is on its way to Jupiter
- Deep Space 1 was a test-bed for ion drive technology. It has completed its specific mission years ago, but remains active and able to resume operation for a new mission, if desired.
- Cassini is currently orbiting Saturn
- SOHO and STEREO solar observatories, which are in solar orbit (away from Earth).
- India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) (also known as Mangalyaan) is currently on its way to Mars.
- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Global Surveyor, and ESA's Mars Express are three spacecraft currently in operation in orbit around Mars.
- ESA's Venus Express is currently in operation around Venus
- Messenger, which is currently studying the planet Mercury
- The Kepler space telescope, which is in solar orbit away from the earth

There are more, as in the links that others have posted.

very cool!
I guess i was thinking "further out" like voyager